The Youkai Orpheus
by MissDimple
Summary: While on a mission to seize a mysterious weapon, the gang meets a pack of stealthy wolf demons who seem to be in possession of the device; it all seems easy enough in the beginning, but what happens when the leader takes an interest in Kurama. H/K
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer- **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho in anyway shape or form, although it is a distant dream of mine.

A/N- This story is loosely based on the old Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice with a little bit of tweaks in between. If you know the story then you probably know how this is going to end, but think again because you never know with me sometimes. I am not afraid to change things… so THERE! Anyways, I know someone has written a story using this same basic plotline, and now I want to write one. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the other one was bad, I actually really enjoyed reading it, but I want to write one. And like I said- it's going to be loosely based on the myth which means that there will be some things in between. So, here's my story, please enjoy!

**The Youkai Orpheus **

**Chapter 1- Honey**

Hiei stood in front of Kurama's house with a frown on his face; he hadn't been in Ningenkai for a while, three whole weeks to be exact. Hiei had come to find out that being away from this place wasn't as good as it had seemed when he was stuck here and actually wanted to leave. It had taken him days and days of uninterrupted thinking to just figure out what it was that was drawing him to this place. He hated the people there, he disliked the customs and he really hated the fact that all he could do all day was jump around in the trees, eat chocolate and hang with the only person who he knows who isn't a moronic idiot, Kurama. Then it hit him, it was that damn Kurama who was sucking him back here. So here Hiei was, in front of Kurama's house, he was here to figure out why he was keeping him here and how.

Hiei leisurely walked to Kurama's front door, this wasn't a persistent occurrence for Hiei; he usually came in through the window. But he knew for a fact that Kurama was in there alone today because while he was staking out his house earlier he watched Kurama's whole family, minus Kurama, leaving in that contraption called a car; so there was no point in bounding himself to Kurama's room when he could have the whole house to kill him in. Hiei knocked lightly on the door and then proceeded to dig his hands into his pockets. He didn't have to wait long before Kurama opened the door with his usual attentiveness in case of danger. He watched Kurama's lips curve into a smile when he realized who it was, this almost lifted Hiei's spirits, but he didn't return the smile.

"Hello Hiei," Kurama said as he opened the door a little wider. Hiei couldn't help but notice how Kurama seemed to have no casual 'hanging in the house' clothes; he wore the same things that he wore when they were on missions.

"Hn…" Was all that Hiei was willing to say.

Kurama giggled without due consideration, he stopped when Hiei hit him with a death glare. Kurama cleared his throat and then he moved away from the door and smiled at his old partner. "Would you like to come in?"

Hiei didn't answer; he only walked into the house as if it was his own. He made his way to the couch and sat down unceremoniously, actually propping his feet on Kurama's coffee table. Kurama smiled, forgetting at this point that Hiei had forgotten to strip himself of his shoes before he walked into the house. He sauntered to where Hiei was sitting and sat down beside him in his usual proper/girly way.

"So Hiei, what brings you here today?" Kurama asked him, he moved himself a little bit closer to the Koorime. Hiei glared at Kurama, causing Kurama to nervously laugh. After a couple of long seconds Hiei still wasn't speaking, just staring, Kurama began to feel a little uncomfortable, making him rub the back of his head. "What?"

"I think you know exactly what brings me here." Hiei said accusingly.

"Umm… no, I don't." Kurama said sensibly, followed by a short shrug. Hiei only rolled his eyes at this display, and then he stood up from the couch with his arms crossed.

"Do you have anything to eat in here fox?" Hiei asked, he figured he might as well change the subject before he went on his little rampage. Kurama merely nodded and stood. He walked into the kitchen, being followed closely by Hiei. Kurama opened the refrigerator door and gazed inside it, Hiei did the same only he looked much angrier then Kurama did, this caused Kurama to giggle uncontrollably.

"Hiei, why are you angry at my food?" Kurama asked him as he reached into the fridge and pulled out an apple. "Do you want this?" Kurama only received a frown and a slow shake of the head from Hiei; Kurama nodded with a smile and then he turned back into the refrigerator and began to repeatedly pull things out until Hiei finally agreed on a piece of chocolate. Kurama handed it to him and they both settles back on the couch, not saying a word to each other for a while.

Hiei turned toward Kurama with his normal blank expression. He observed the fox as he usually did when he was here, only this time he was searching for something. He was searching for the reason why he was drawn back here, what in that fox was doing this to him. Was it those big beautiful green eyes that he sported so well? How about his blood red hair, was that malleable silky mane making him come back here every week? Could it be those soft lips be the things that bind him here? Hiei's eyes traveled a bit lower, his eyes rested on the flat stomach and chest area of his friend, now could Hiei's desire to caress them be his downfall? His eyes trailed a little bit lower and down to his long legs, which were still in the nice position that he preferred, were the dirty thoughts that oozed into Hiei's mind whenever he looked at those legs the thing about Kurama that was keeping him here?

"Hiei?" Hiei was snapped clean out of his thoughts when he noticed Kurama calling after him. Hiei moved his eyes to Kurama and saw that he was glazing at Hiei as if he was crazy or something; he had obviously noticed his staring. Hiei averted his eyes away from Kurama again, for a second he thought he had blushed but then he realized that it was impossible. "Hiei are you blushing?"

Hiei muttered the words _'Damn', _before he began glaring at his fox counterpart. "No! Do I look like someone who would go red in the face?" Hiei asked him harshly.

Kurama pouted as his eyes diverted, he leaned back in his seat and shook his head. There was another long awkward couple of moments that Kurama and Hiei spent watching the news, Kurama seemed to really be into it while Hiei only silently chuckled to himself when he saw all of the crazy things that those Ningens did. When the news hour was over Kurama turned the television off once again and he shifted his eyes to Hiei, he seemed to be examining him just like Hiei had been doing to him earlier. Hiei frowned and glanced down into his lap awkwardly, he wondered if this was the way that Kurama felt when he had been staring at him. Hiei uncomfortably shifted in his seat, he thought he might be blushing again but he abandoned the idea when Kurama remained silent. After a couple of minutes of the Hiei actually being self-conscious for once, he got fed up and quickly turned to Kurama with an irate look in his red eyes.

"What!?" Hiei yelled, his full intention to scare Kurama, unfortunately Kurama remained un-phased. Kurama merely grinned at Hiei and then he sat back in the couch. Hiei sighed in relief and sat back in the couch just as Kurama had done. They remained silent for a while, neither of them looking at one another for about 3 minutes before they both raised their eyes to look at each other at the same time. Their eyes fell almost immediately though, they didn't say anything for a while yet again until Kurama decided to speak.

"Hiei…" Kurama said softly, he got his attention almost immediately. "…Are you okay?" This question took Hiei off guard, mostly because he had no idea what Kurama meant. Hiei glared at Kurama, he looked pretty annoyed.

"What do you mean am I okay?" Hiei asked him accusingly.

Kurama bit down on his bottom lip and then spoke calmly. "Well, what I meant was…"

Hiei cut Kurama clean off with a loud snicker. "I'm sure you mean a lot of things, huh Kurama? Like, if I'm okay with the fact that you've been using some kind of fox tricks to pull me back here every other week, or if I'm okay with the fact that you've kept me completely oblivious to the fact? Or if I'm okay with the reality that you're making me experience all of these stupid sad feelings when I'm not here in Ningenkai with you? Is that what you meant?" Hiei snarled angrily, he didn't notice what he was saying until he saw the look on Kurama's face. He looked completely taken aback, his eyes were wide and he was pouting again.

"Umm… no…" Kurama answered passively.

Hiei rolled his eyes at Kurama and turned away from him. His eyes feel to his lap and Kurama just stared into the different areas of his household, trying to figure out what had just happened. After a bit of uncomfortable silence, Hiei stood from the couch with his arms crossed. "Bye fox…" He murmured, he began walking at a face pace out of the room.

Kurama frowned and he hopped out from his seat. "Where are you going?"

Hiei turned his head and frowned at Kurama. Now, he had one of two options, he could tell Kurama the truth and say that he was way too embarrassed to stick around and look at him or he could make up some kind of lie that Kurama would probably have a good solution to anyways. "I'm tired… I'm going to find somewhere to go to bed." Hiei mumbled, he was about to sprint toward the door, but he was stopped by Kurama's voice.

"You don't have to sleep outside. I heard there was a possibility of a rainstorm tonight." Kurama said, he actually sounded a bit concerned to Hiei, but he passed this off as the fox's normal tone.

"Well, I'll just go back to Alaric then." Hiei rationalized.

"You really don't have to go through all of that trouble; you can just stay here for the night and go back to Makai tomorrow…" Kurama said; he smiled when he noticed the look that Hiei had given him (it was an annoyed stare by the way). "…That way you won't get caught in the rain."

Hiei rolled his eyes, he wanted to say no or just leave, but something in Kurama's voice made him change his mind completely. He turned his body around and looked at Kurama, and slowly nodded. Kurama beamed, actually causing Hiei to smile briefly, brief enough that Kurama couldn't even see it. Kurama walked closer to his friend and he looked down at him with the same smile on his face. "If you're tired now, you can go up to my room. I'll be able to join you shortly; I just have to take a shower first." With that said, Kurama walked upstairs and straight into the bathroom.

Hiei shook his head, he wasn't exactly tired yet and he didn't want Kurama to think that he followed him or anything. So, instead, Hiei decided to stay downstairs for a while and go through the house. Hiei walked to the kitchen first and searched for any other food that looked edible. Hiei went through gleefully, throwing things around and even dropping and spilling a lot of things. When he didn't find anything that even looked like he'd want to eat it he shifted gears to the freezer, he found a full carton of sweet snow and he decided on that. After all of those escapades were done he walked to the bookcase that was in the dining room. There was one book in particular that stood out to Hiei, it was about relationships and stuff and the title was, "Relationships and stuff". Hiei opened it out of curiosity and gazed inside and found that there were a lot of frivolous topics, such as: _'How do you know if you have fallen in love', 'Does he love you that much?'_, and the most ridiculous one, _'When is it the right time to get married?'_. Now, regardless of al of this Hiei did come across an article that seemed like it would be an interesting read for his current situation; _'Four Signs that you have a crush (or an infatuation)_'. Hiei's eyes focused on the page, he read in a speedy manner.

A/N: I hate sticking these in places but I just have to say that I pretty much found this on the internet somewhere. Okay? Okay!

**Sign number one: You think about the object of your crush all the time**

Hiei had to ponder this one; he kind of did spend a lot of his time thinking about Kurama, more time then what had been normal. Ever since he had decided to stay in Makai he had been having many dreams about Kurama, and not just the stupid kind of dreams that you have a night that you can't control. He actually had daydreams, those useless occurrences when Hiei's mind would wander to what it would be like if he was with Kurama, what would his lips taste like; a lot of random thoughts that only had one thing in common, that damn fox.

**Sign number two: Your crush starts to get in the way of your everyday life**

Hiei didn't have to think about his one at all, Kurama defiantly did put a damper on what used to be his normal life. He could recall before he'd met Kurama he was able to commit crimes and do various bad things without having a second thought about it. He even did these things a year after he had met Kurama, but that was only because he was doing it with him, which meant that if one went down, they both went down. Now it was totally different, Hiei did in fact miss the rush of doing bad things like stealing things, kidnapping people for selfish purposes and killing people for no purposes. But now he had to think about Kurama, because if he was arrested again or put on probation in a place where Kurama was not present then that would mean loneliness for the both of them. In that respect, the kitsune was killing his everyday life brutally.

**Sign number three: You find yourself doing things you swore you would never do**

This one completely linked back to today, Hiei had sworn that as soon as he got out of Ningenkai there was no way that he was coming back. But, alas, here he was dragging himself back there every other week just to make sure that Kurama was still safe or to ask him a question, or simply to just lounge on his couch with him and eat sweet snow. It just wasn't fair. Hiei knew it was Kurama's fault that he was coming back there.

At this point Hiei was getting a little worried, he had the first three qualities of having a crush on Kurama, not that he thought this magazine was right or anything, it's just some random book written by an idiotic Ningen women. But still, he was kind of interested, what if he did have the next quality, then did that mean he had a crush as far as Ningen standards went. He cautiously glanced down.

**Sign number four: You're breath gets caught in your throat and your heart skips a beat whenever your crush walks into the room**

Hiei sighed with relief after reading this. Not once has his breath caught in his throat, not for Kurama and not for a single other person that Hiei had taken up with. That proved it! He didn't have an infatuation with the fox, it was all in his head and the stupid book was the one putting it in his head. Hiei had half of a mind to take out his katana and made this book shreds, but it was Kurama's and more than likely Kurama would kill him.

He closed the book and placed it back on the shelf, relief flooding through his heart. Hiei yawned silently, he was getting rather tired, _'Maybe I should get upstairs in Kurama's room and go to bed.' _Hiei thought to himself. He placed the sweet snow on the counter, forgetting that it needed to be frozen in order for it to remain "snow", then he made his way upstairs, he passed the bathroom, hearing that Kurama was still bathing himself. Hiei managed a small smile when he heard the fox humming a pleasant tune, he couldn't help but notice that he sounded pretty good when he hummed, defiantly when you compared it to when he sings, which is always a catastrophe. Hiei sighed heavily, reminding himself that the fox wasn't supposed to be on his mind unless he wanted to have an infatuation with him. Hiei exhaled noisily and began to walk to Kurama's room again.

Hiei reached Kurama's room, documenting the neatness of the room, Hiei had no idea how he pulled this off in a room so small with no one keeping it clean for him. He noticed that there was a pair of pajamas sitting on his bed, they seemed to be entirely too small for Kurama and they were orange, a color that Kurama had some how grown to hate in recent years. Hiei rolled his eyes when he came to the realization that these were meant for him, Hiei defiantly didn't want to put these on, but of course if he didn't Kurama would come in here and force it on him. Hiei quickly changed into the embarrassing apparel, but he kept all of his clothing and his katana close by. He laid down on Kurama's comfortable and yet small bed, not that he minded at all, he and Kurama had slept in the same bed in the past one's that were even smaller than this, they were that comfortable in each other's company.

Hiei had defiantly though he was sleepy, but when he had lain down on the bed he couldn't get to sleep at all. That stupid book was still stalking his mind. He possibly had an infatuation with Kurama; as far as that book was concerned Hiei had a 3 out of 4 chance of being smitten with Kurama. Honestly, Hiei had never really thought of a chance that he could like Kurama, he always saw him as a good and trustworthy friend, but as a lover, no! But then again, it was possible; Kurama did have a nice face from women and men standards. But, Hiei had only just started having these feelings… was it the distance between them? '_I once heard the phrase that distance makes a bond stronger and not weaker. Is it possible that the time that I spent away from him the thing that suddenly making me realize... No! Of course not, Kurama is just Kurama, and that stupid book was just a bunch of confusing Ningen text, nothing that really meant anything. I have nothing to worry about…' _ Hiei said to himself, he smiled softly when he was finished, there was no way that he was crushing on Kurama.

Kurama's door opened and, as if fate was playing a cruel joke on him, in came Kurama with a towel rapped around his waist and another rapped in his red hair. And surprisingly Hiei felt his heart skip and his breath caught way up in his throat. Kurama was so lovely when he had just gotten out of the shower, Hiei couldn't help but notice how some of his dripping wt red streaks were still falling down his face, escaping the tight towel.

"Oh, I'm sorry Hiei, I thought you'd be sleeping by now." Kurama said bashfully, he looked to the side and for the first time Hiei actually saw Kurama when he was shy and he thought it was cute.

"Sorry fox, you're going to have to change in front of me." Hiei said, he made it sound like a joke but in reality he was dead serious.

He got received a light giggle from Kurama. "As appealing as that sounds, I think I'm just going to change my clothes in the closet." Kurama walked inside of his tiny closet and began to do his business.

Hiei listened closely to every time that Kurama had bumped into things and murmured the words 'Ow', 'Ouch', 'Shoot'. Now that is the type of entertainment that Hiei craved for, his favorite parts is when he would laugh and Kurama would yell, "Shut up!" from the closet. Hiei's thoughts drifted back to when Kurama had walked into the room a couple of minutes ago. '_He looked so nice that my breath…caught... up… in my… Oh GOD!' _Hiei immediately burst out with a bunch of curse words, some he didn't even know the meaning of.

"Hiei, are you okay?" Kurama asked him.

Hiei just grunted in response and he immediately calmed himself down by laying face down into the pillow. A couple of minutes later Hiei felt the part of the bed beside him sinking down, he lifted his crimson eyes to meet the amber ones of his counterpart. Kurama smiled at him then he reached over and shut off the light that was near his bed. Hiei watched as he lay back in the bed, covering himself up with the blanket. He turned to Hiei with a warm smile on his face.

"Goodnight Hiei…" Kurama said before he closed his eyes and in minutes drifted off to dreamland.

After about an hour of lying awake, Hiei sat up in the bed and glanced at the kitsune that slept so peacefully beside him. The same kitsune that is responsible for keeping Hiei awake for so long, his thoughts kept shifting back to that stupid book and all of its stupid analogies to what Hiei was feeling. He had gone through all of the signs that he had an infatuation with Kurama, and quite frankly he was starting to not have a problem with that, that was the confusing part. Hiei scanned the red head, he was so pretty; who wouldn't have a crush on him.

Hiei's eyes fell onto the pale lips of his, they were vaguely parted and looked... tasty. Hiei bit down on his bottom lip, pondering on what he should do now. He obviously wasn't getting to sleep anytime soon, and there was nothing to do. _'Maybe I could get a small taste… you know, just to lie to rest all of my fantasies of what his lips would taste like. He's sleeping so he won't even have to be a part of it.'_ Hiei said to himself. He moved his body a little closer to Kurama, carefully as to not wake him, and he placed his hand on Kurama's cheek. When Kurama didn't move, Hiei smirked mischievously and he lowered his head to the lips of his lovely kitsune, their lips meet and Hiei felt pure bliss. He laced his fingers into his hair and pressed his lips deeper onto Kurama's, he'd gotten so rapped up that he didn't notice Kurama waking up until it was way too late, Kurama's eyes were wide open and they looked shocked. When Hiei realized this he snatched his lips away from Kurama's and looked at him wide eyed. Kurama continued staring at him as he sat up on the bed.

Hiei suddenly felt overwhelmed with the fact that he had been found out and in the blink of an eye he was gone, along with all of his things. Kurama continued staring into the spot where Hiei had been, his eyes wide with shock. After a while he had defiantly calmed down a bit and he raised his fingers to touch his mouth, a light smile danced onto his lips. He lay back down in his bed and fought his way to sleep as many daydreams of his first kiss with Hiei danced through his head.

Meanwhile, Hiei hopped around many trees doing whatever he could to forget the previous occurrences. _'Oh goodness, I feel almost as stupid as that idiot Kuwabara. Why couldn't I keep that stupid kiss just a kiss; I insisted on touching his hair and making the kiss deeper than necessary. How will I ever look that Kurama in the eye again?'_ Hiei stopped at a tree when he was sure that he was too far for the fox to follow him. Hiei cursed loudly this time, hoping to wake the entire neighborhood; he should have just gone to Alaric like he had been planning to do. This was all Kurama's fault, he should have just let him get caught in the rain, wait, where is the rain? Hiei looked at the sky and saw that it was clear, there wasn't a cloud in sight; and it certainly didn't smell of rain. So the Fox had tricked him again, now for what reason? Hiei couldn't even figure out. Hiei slumped in the tree and frowned, after a while of sitting there silently Hiei licked his lips and couldn't help but taste the lingering presence of Kurama's lips. Hiei smiled to himself, they tasted like honey.

* * *

Chapter Numero Uno!

I hope you guys liked it, there is more to come and more than likely the next chapter will be within the next week or so.

Yay!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer- **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho in anyway shape or form, although it is a distant dream of mine

A/N: So, I got about 2 reviews, which is good for me because of the fact that this is a new story. And I'm going to wait ever so patiently for it to be accepted. YAY!!

Oh, and I apologize for the late late super late update, it was of no fault of my own. My family had to move out of our apartment and when I say had to move, I meant HAD to move. They literally gave us about 3 days to ship out, so I had no time to type and I had to wait for the internet connection in my home to come back.

**The Youkai Orpheus **

**Chapter 2 - Europe  
**

Kurama pried open his eyes, which he immediately closed because of the sun beaming into his eyes. Kurama grunted crossly, he didn't understand it, he always made sure that the curtains were closed before he went to bed, even though he did always keep the window open so that Hiei could get in when he chose to… oh, right Hiei.

Memories of the previous night flooded back into his mind. He recalled Hiei acting strange and really touchy throughout the short time that he was with him. Then when they had gone to bed together, just as they usually did, but what seemed like only minutes after he had fallen asleep he had felt something warm on his lips. For the record, Kurama didn't even almost know what it was he thought that maybe someone had placed something like a warm rag on his lips, for what reason? He didn't know. Anyways, he was about to just force himself back to sleep, but that was before he felt something run its hands through his hair. His eyes shot open and the first thing he saw was Hiei he was making light moaning sounds and his eyes were closed, Kurama was shocked at first, very shocked and when Hiei decided to pull away he looked shocked as well. Then, in mere seconds he had disappeared from sight.

Kurama sat up in his bed, secretly hopping that Hiei had decided to come back some time during the night, unfortunately Kurama's room was completely empty. Kurama sighed and then lay back in his bed; he couldn't help but wonder whether last night could've been different. If he hadn't given Hiei that shocked look when he kissed him, if he would've been better about it, then maybe Hiei would've stayed and they could've talked about it. Or, when Kurama realized Hiei was kissing him he could've always kissed him back; that would've destroyed all issues right there.

Kurama bit down on his the side of his bottom lip and was about to go back to sleep in hopes that memories of the previous night would appear in his dreams. Unfortunately, his step-father opened the door as soon as he was about to commence with one of his favorite activities.

"Shuichi, it's time to wake up, it's 7 am." Kazuyu said quickly before leaving the room. Kurama rolled his eyes and practically growled, not because he was angry with his step-father or anything, but because he was annoyed with the fact that he was up there doing his mom's previous dirty work.

Kurama peeled himself from his bed and made his way to the bathroom, nearly jumping for joy when he realized that no one was in there already, a very rare occurrence in that house lately. In fact, it was a very rare occasion for Kurama to have anything to himself lately; this house had become pretty cramped since two other people had begun living here. I mean, seriously, there were only about three tiny bedrooms, one bathroom, an open kitchen complete with a living room/dining room. It absolutely sucked. Kurama actually missed the house just being for his mother and himself, not that he hated his new father and brother, he actually liked them both and enjoyed their company but when it came to living in the same house… Anyways, Kurama did kind of want to move out but unfortunately he was still 17 (as far as his human body is concerned) and he still had about 6 months left of high school. Though, that didn't quite matter since his mother probably won't allow him to move out until he is 25, which stinks.

As soon as Kurama exited the bathroom he saw that his little step brother, Shuichi, Kurama smiled softly at him. "I apologize for hogging the bathroom. Do you have to go badly?"

"Y-Y-Yes!" Shuichi nearly screamed before he pushed past his brother and sprinted into the bathroom, closing the door with a slam.

Kurama giggled lightly and then murmured underneath his breath. "Okay, I'll just get out of your way then…" Kurama went back into his bedroom and quickly got dressed, again thinking about the previous night. He had been thinking about how the kiss could've been different and how good it was before he ruined it. But, he had never thought about why the kiss had happened, why did Hiei kiss him? Was he sexually frustrated? Was he half sleeping when it happened? Or… did it mean something?

Could it have meant something? Kurama had never thought that Hiei would have feelings for him; he never showed it if he did. He just barely treats Kurama as a friend, let alone a love interest; goodness, it was confusing. But Kurama didn't mind, in fact in the deep bowels of his heart he did kind of want Hiei to love him because it was no secret that he did love Hiei, well it was no secret to him anyways.

As soon as Kurama was finished dressing, he walked down the stairs and saw that his entire family was already seated and eating their breakfast. When Shiori saw her son approaching she smiled softly at him.

"Shuichi, come and join us." She said pleasantly.

Kurama merely smiled at her and nodded. He walked to the table and sat down in a seat next to his step brother. They ate in silence at first, but eventually it was broken by Shiori.

"So, Shuichi how's school?" Shiori asked. Kurama knew that she wasn't speaking to him; if she was she would've said elder Shuichi since they had pretty much the same name. Kurama smiled lightly and turned toward his younger step brother.

"It's fine, I've made a lot of friends. I even have a girlfriend." Shuichi said merrily.

"That's my boy!" Kazuyu said elatedly as he pat his son on the back. He then turned his attention to Kurama. "How about you Elder Shuichi, made any new friends?" Kazuyu asked him.

"No, I still have the same old ones." Kurama replied hesitantly.

"How about a girlfriend?" Kazuyu asked him sarcastically.

"No…" Kurama rolled his eyes, they pretty much had this same conversation every morning and it always ended the same way: Kurama getting up and leaving. He knew just as well as everyone else that these conversations were just one of Kazuyu's sly ways of trying to convince Kurama to man up a bit, cut his hair and get a real girlfriend, or at least admit that he preferred guys which Kurama would never do at the damn breakfast table.

"Oh, well that's too bad. Are there any girls that you're interested in right now?" Kazuyu asked, he looked as if he wanted to laugh, him and the younger Shuichi. Shiori just sat there with her face buried in her food, not really wanting to get involved in the conflict that was arising.

"No." Kurama spoke bitterly this time.

"Oh, okay, How about any boyfriends?" Kazuyu asked mockingly; he received a giggle in response from his son and a glare from his wife. "What?"

"Do you really think this is the best topic for the breakfast table?" Shiori asked him spitefully.

"I was just asking him a question…" Kazuyu said followed by a quick shrug.

"Yes, a very inappropriate question." Shiori said. The fights between Kurama's mother and step-father were always so petty and useless; they never had real reasons. This almost made Kurama want to giggle, but the conversation was too serious already.

"It's not inappropriate, it's completely normal. I just want to know so that I won't have to constantly berate him about a girlfriend." Kazuyu replied.

Kurama noticed that Shiori was about to say something and immediately shut her up before she could utter a word. "Okay, I'm full. I think I'm going to school now."

"Wait, wait Shuichi, you have to take me with you!" Shuichi said quickly as he began rounding up his school bags and stuff. Kurama turned toward him and frowned, inwardly rolling his eyes; he kind of wanted to jump ship as quickly as he possibly could at this point. When Shuichi was ready Kurama began to walk out of the door, before he was stopped by his step-father.

"Hold on a second Shuichi, I apologize for my conduct… but I'm really curious, do you have a boyfriend?" He asked, only this time the joking tone had disappeared from his voice.

"Husband, I don't think--" Shiori began.

"Mother, its fine," Kurama said gently before he turned his attention to his stepfather. "I don't have boyfriend." Kurama said calmly before he walked out of the house with his little brother following close behind. They walked in silence for a while, Shuichi couldn't tell whether or not Kurama was calm or angry, his face was just blank.

"Shuichi, are you okay?" The younger Shuichi asked his older brother.

Kurama turned around to him and smiled softly before nodding.

"I'm sorry about my father, he just doesn't think before he speaks and he get's curious a lot. He doesn't mean anything by it though, he doesn't think there is anything wrong with it… being homosexual, I mean. He just wants to know, I guess. To tell you the truth he's been wondering about it since he met you." Shuichi explained.

Kurama smiled at him and nodded knowingly. "Thank you Shuichi, but it really doesn't affect me much anymore. I'm used to it; I've been in conversations like this at school as well and probably much more frequently then I do with your father."

"Oh… well, sorry about that." Shuichi said solemnly. After that they began to walk in silence again.

* * *

After dropping Shuichi off at his junior highschool, Kurama made his way to his school. As he walked he couldn't help but scan the trees, looking for any sign that Hiei had been there; he really wanted to speak to him about the previous night. Unfortunately, knowing Hiei he probably wouldn't want to speak about it; he would brush it off and come up with some snappy excuse that would make sense and get him off the hook. It was no fair, he wanted so badly to tell Hiei how he felt but in some weird type of way he was afraid. It was never the way of Kurama to tell someone how he feels about them before they could say how they feel about him, and that was mostly because he was not one to take rejection well. He was never rejected in his old life as Yoko and he was NOT going to be rejected in this one as Shuichi. So, he was just going to wait it out, if Hiei did have feeling for him he was bound to say something eventually, yes he was closed off but he was also territorial and resolute and one day he would have to claim Kurama as his own and the only way to do that was to admit his feelings. Kurama could only pray that he doesn't end up waiting for so long that he gets interested in someone else. That would be a nightmare.

Kurama arrived at school about 15 minutes before the bell was set to ring. As soon as he onto the grounds he noticed Yuske and Kuwabara standing at the gate. Kurama pouted slightly, he had no idea what they were doing there but he had an idea that it had something to do with Koenma and a mission. Kurama approached his friends with a frown on his face.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kurama asked them as he hugged his books closer to his chest.

When they noticed him they smiled pleasantly. "The toddler needs us." Yuske said plainly.

"Why?" Kurama asked.

"He needs us to look into something. I completely forgot what he said; I think it was something about a pack… I don't know." Yuske replied.

"Do you have any idea where the shrimp is?" Kuwabara asked Kurama.

"Umm… no, but I'm sure he's still around here somewhere—" Kurama began.

"I'm up here you idiots…" They all turned to see the source of the bitter voice and up in the trees they saw Hiei lounging on one of the branches, his eyes not on any of them.

"Well, that was easy." Kurama said amusingly.

Hiei jumped from atop the tree and onto the ground, not really caring about the Ningens that were probably looking at him as some sort of a wackoo for being in a tree. "What does that fool Koenma want from us now?"

"Oh, well… he wants us on a mission." Yuske groaned. He really looked like he was in no mood.

Hiei scoffed angrily. "Ugh! Is this mission of any importance?"

"We don't know yet." Kuwabara replied.

"Are you coming Hiei?" Kurama asked; his voice was soft and uncertain. Hiei noticed and decided against looking at him while answering his question.

"Hn…" Was his response.

"Okay! Well, let's go!" Yuske said after clapping his hands together. He was about to walk away, along with Kuwabara and Hiei but Kurama stayed in place.

"Wait, aren't you guys forgetting about school? We still have classes today you know." Kurama explained.

"Umm, Kurama, I'm 100 sure that whatever Koenma has planned for us today is more important than missing school." Yuske said sarcastically.

"But—"

"Come on!" Yuske, Kuwabara and Hiei all yelled.

* * *

Hiei had to ask himself like everyday why he still went on these missions and why he even agreed to still work for that pacifier idiot when he had a great job in Makai. What could it be? It just had to be that Kurama again…

The walk to Genkai's temple was a silent one for Hiei, but a different type of silence. Usually when Hiei was forced to hang around these people he did everything he could to not speak to them which made it silent; but regardless of that it had never felt that silent before. He knew why though, his mind had not been in the right place since his previous encounter with Kurama and if a bomb had went off three feet away from Hiei he probably wouldn't have heard it and even if he did he wouldn't have cared. He was uncomfortable and nervous for the second time in the past 24 hours, why was Kurama able to do that to him? No one in the world made Hiei feel like this, no one made him feel embarrassed, uneasy and blissful at the same time.

As they approached the temple, Hiei let his eyes reach the fox; he seemed to be just as uneasy as Hiei was. He didn't know why, I mean it's not like Kurama was the one who went ahead and let his silly desires kill all self control that he had worked so hard to get. It was no fair, he wanted Kurama to embarrass himself too, so that they can be even and things could go back to normal.

They reached the temple and saw that Koenma was already there waiting for them impatiently.

"Well, it's about time you four got here. This mission requires your immediate attention!" Koenma almost yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep your bib on." Yuske said rather rudely.

They al sat down, Kurama and Hiei as far away from each other as possible, and listened to Koenma's little speech type thing. "Alright, now that you're all here I have an urgent mission for you guys."

"We know." Yuske muttered underneath his breath.

"Okay, well here it is…" Koenma said before he turned to his screen like thing (that appeared from out of nowhere) and began speaking as the images flashed on the screen. "There has been a large pack of wolf demons terrorizing some parts of Ningenkai."

"What parts?" Kurama asked.

"They've been shifting between France and England." Koenma exclaimed.

"So you're sending us to Europe?" Kuwabara asked, a bit of excitement evident in his voice.

"Yes, but you are only going to have a month to get this done. I don't want any lollygagging." Koenma scowled at the way that Kuwabara and Yuske were looking, kind of like they really didn't care what Koenma was saying.

"Do you have any information on the demons we're looking for?" Hiei spoke up before he had to hear Koenma go on some kind of angry rant about how no one listens to him and blah blah blah.

"Of course I do." Koenma turned to the screen again. "The first demon's name is Grubby," A flash of the screen showed a very chubby wolf demon, and very very ugly. "He's not too strong; his main threat is his odor. So, if you have a really weak stomach, watch out for that because it can throw you way off." Another flash of the screen showed a really skinny man with a pair of bright blue eyes and a very gray neck. "His name is Pace; his main source of power is his speed not to mention the fact that he handles a cane pretty well." The third flash of the screen showed a muscled up buff guy matching the stature of Elder Toguro, his skin was very orange-ish and his eyes were as gray as a wolf's fur. "Okay, his name is Vigor. As you can see, he is very strong, almost as strong as the blasts that he lets out when he gets angry. Watch out for that." The fourth flash of the screen displayed an elderly man, although, despite the age that his face displayed his stature was completely different, he stood as if he was some cocky C-class, not an old and wise B-class. "His name is Judicious; he has been through dozens of Wolf demon packs over the last few millenniums which means he has a lot of experience and knows many different techniques and skills. Be very careful with him, he's very wise." The fifth and final flash appeared and showed a very handsome man with light yellow eyes and brilliant white hair. "His name is Luther; he is the unofficial leader of this wolf pack. He is very intelligent, very skilled, an upper A class and, from what we've collected, he is even more cut throat than Hiei and Kurama combined." That final statement made both Yuske and Kuwabara cringed while Kurama and Hiei just stared at Koenma as if they had just been challenged.

"Well… this mission will defiantly be an experience." Yuske muttered.

"Is there any additional information?" Kurama inquired.

"Well, there is a weapon that they've been using. It's warded off all of my newer detectives and I have yet to figure out exactly how to destroy or counter an attack from this weapon. So, I'm just asking all of you to keep an eye on them for now until I can come up with a way to destroy the weapon."

"What does it look like?" Hiei asked.

Koenma was obviously caught off guard by this question; he stared at him with widened eyes. "What?"

"You heard me!" Hiei replied rather harshly.

"Uh-well, hmmm...- I'm not exactly sure." Koenma exclaimed cautiously and quietly.

"What!" Yuske shrieked, he jumped out of his and looked like he was about to pummel Koenma. He was stopped by Kurama yanking him back down onto his butt.

"I only know it exists, I have no idea what the item looks like. No one but the members of the Wolf pack has seen it. But, I will supply you with information as it comes."

After this was said, Yuske started to yell and then Koenma started to yell and Kuwabara started to mutter while Kurama and Hiei sat there silently. Hiei was obviously trying to avoid Kurama and Kurama was trying his hardest to not pay attention to the rudeness of Hiei, though he was failing miserably. Kurama bit down on his bottom lip and turned toward Hiei, who was staring out into nowhere. Kurama cleared his throat and waited, he got no response from Hiei, not even a sidelong glance. He sighed and then forced a warm smile onto his face.

"Sometimes I wonder how we'll ever get things done with the constant bickering of those three." Kurama chuckled after his statement, hoping to get some kind of rise out of Hiei, and by the way, failing horribly. Kurama huffed, noting that humor wasn't going to help, maybe a question would.

"Have you ever been to Europe Hiei?" Kurama glanced at Hiei again, seeing that he obviously had no intention to be answering his question he moved. "Well, I've never been. Although I've read a lot about France, I heard there are pretty fine restaurants there and stuff, mostly in Paris though. I'm really excited and I hope we can get some kind of downtime to go and see England and France, and maybe have a little fun before we have to come back home… if we do get some time to ourselves would you like to see the Parc des Buttes Chaumont with me? It's a park, I've always wanted to go, I hear it has amazing gardens." Kurama rambled. He waited a while for Hiei once again, and just when he was about to give up he heard.

"Hn." It was soft, basically inaudible.

Kurama smiled triumphantly and then leaned back in the seat he was currently residing in and watched his friends continue their fighting.

* * *

**Okay, I know this chapter is a bit spacey. But it is of no fault of my own, yet again. I had tried to rush this chapter before I moved but I didn't finish in time. So I rushed this last bit so that I could get something to you guys before the week was over. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer- **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho in anyway shape or form, although it is a distant dream of mine

A/N: Nothing this time, I don't think.

**The Youkai Orpheus **

**Chapter 3- Rift-Raft  
**

After another hour or so of conversing about the mission and exactly what they were supposed to do, they were sent off to Europe without anytime to explain to their families where they were going, even though the only family that would really care is the overprotective family of Kurama. Koenma insisted that they not draw attention to themselves by jumping portals directly to Paris, which was said to be the current destination of their new enemies; instead they jumped a portal to Bordeaux and rode a train the rest of the way much to the displeasure of Hiei and Kuwabara whom both had their own personal bias against trains.

A couple of minutes after they had gotten on the train they found a compartment, in a short amount of time Kuwabara and Yuske had found themselves falling asleep, leaving Hiei and Kurama awake, neither of them feeling even partially tired. They were sitting across from one another, Hiei beside Yuske and Kurama beside Kuwabara.

Hiei examined the landscape; it was a sight to see. Although he would rather walked all the way to Paris so that he could have time to really examine his surroundings; unfortunately he was on a train filled with a bunch of fools, minus Kurama who is only a fool sometimes. Hiei raised his eyes to see whether or not the fox had fallen asleep like the other idiots, only to see that he was just as awake as Hiei and staring out the window as well. Hiei rolled his eyes at the fox, he really hoped that he didn't say anything to him because, quite frankly, he seemed to be getting more and more embarrassed as time went by and the fact that Kurama was less than 3 feet away from him wasn't helping his nerves.

Hiei sighed silently before allowing his eyes to shift to the window again. It was starting to get very dark, if the enemies just so happened to be outside there's no way anyone would have noticed them, stupid Koenma just decided to send them there entirely too late. Hiei allowed his eyes to drop into his lap, no longer interested in the darkness of the outside. Unfortunately, the only thing that was awaiting Hiei when his consciousness reallocated itself back into the train was the big green staring eyes of Kurama. Hiei stared back at him with a blank look on his face, after a while of the mutual observation, Hiei decided to speak.

"Fox, I'd rather not engage in these staring games." Hiei growled briskly.

Kurama smiled and looked down into his lap, obviously amused. "I'm sorry Hiei; I didn't notice what I was doing." Kurama's eyes rose to fall onto Hiei once again, which only annoyed the fire demon more.

"What?" Hiei scowled at Kurama when he began to laugh at Hiei's conduct. When Kurama noticed this, his smile dropped and he awkwardly looked out of the window again; Hiei was hoping that that short back and forth would lead to another one of his and Kurama's extended silences. Miserably, Kurama began to speak again.

"Hiei…" Kurama said so softly that it almost sounded like a whisper. Hiei didn't look up, speak or do anything that would indicate that he heard Kurama; So Kurama just continued speaking. "I was wondering whether or not you wanted to talk about last night."

This question caught Hiei by surprise; he flinched and nearly fell out of his seat in shock. His wide eyes shot up to the kitsune a couple of feet away from him. He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it and found himself at a loss for words.

Kurama frowned when Hiei failed to respond. "Hiei, I just want to know what your reason was for kissing me."

Hiei frowned and allowed his eyes to fall onto the floor. "Why?"

Kurama pouted and then bit on the side of his lip, now that was a pretty good question. Now, Kurama did know exactly why he wanted to know but he couldn't tell Hiei that; he had to come up with something quick. "Uh…" Kurama huffed. "Well, I was the one who was kissed; don't you think I deserve some kind of explanation?"

"Hn…" Hiei responded.

"Hiei can't you just tell me why?" Kurama asked him.

Hiei scowled at Kurama and then turned hastily away from him. His mind was swarming with many different excuses that he could use, but all of them seemed to have their little holes that Kurama was sure to spot and point out. "I did it because I was curious about something."

Kurama wrinkled his eyebrows. "What were you curious about?"

"Well, way before I ever met you, I'd heard so many stories about Yoko Kurama such as the demons you killed, the things you stole and the many hearts that you broke. One of the rumors about you that stood out to me the most was a rumor that said you had some of the softest lips that anyone could ever kiss." Hiei began, he saw a look of understanding on Kurama's face and he sighed in relief. He couldn't tell Kurama that the real reason he kissed him was because he wanted to see how tasty his lips would be. That sounds so obsessive and if Hiei was anything he was not some obsessed psychopath who spent all of their time wondering what someone's lips tastes like… well, he didn't want Kurama to think he was. "Last night I was having trouble sleeping and I started thinking about it. My curiosity was too much to bear and I wanted to see whether or not your human lips would be as soft as your demon ones were."

"Oh, well that makes sense, I suppose." Kurama leaned back in his seat and rapped his hands across his chest; he looked like he was trying to make his way to sleep, though he never closed his eyes.

Hiei mustered up his second sigh of relief. _Sweet Silence. _

* * *

About an hour later, Kurama and Hiei were both fighting their way to sleep to absolutely no avail. Kurama glanced at Kuwabara who was fast asleep with a tiny bit of drool slipping out of the corner of his mouth, this would have usually made Kurama giggle but he just wasn't in that mood anymore. Hiei's answer to his previous question upset him greatly; he was hoping for something romantic to come out of Hiei's mouth, such as I did it because I wanted to, not because he was just curious and wanted to be the first to make sure a rumor was true. Kurama glared bitterly at Hiei, why couldn't he be like normal people and state real reasons that he does the things he does. Kurama took a deep breath and decided to ask the question that had been on his mind since the previous night.

"So… it meant nothing?" Kurama asked him hesitantly.

Hiei's eyes slowly moved to look at Kurama. "What?"

"Did the kiss mean anything?" Kurama asked, this time he was a little more straight-forward.

Hiei focused his attention on Kurama again; he stared at him for a while before shifting his gaze away from him. "You're unbelievably conversational today, huh Kurama?"

Kurama giggled underneath his breath. "Aren't I always?"

"Hn…"

"Hiei, are you going to answer my question?"

"…No!"

"Why?"

"Because it's completely irrelevant and idiotic and I refuse to answer an irrelevant and idiotic question." Hiei replied bitterly.

"What is so irrelevant about it? It's a yes or no question." Kurama replied logically.

"Why do you care?" Hiei snapped.

Kurama smiled lightly at his callous demeanor. "Well, if someone had secret feelings for you, wouldn't you like to know so that you can approach it correctly based on the person and the events leading up to them developing their feeling for you?"

Hiei scowled. "You talk entirely too much."

After a short moment of silence, Kurama began to speak again. "So… are you going to answer?"

"No…" Hiei said silently.

Kurama leaned back in his seat and nodded, he knew that was his response to Kurama's most recent question and his initial one. Kurama's heart ripped into pieces at this realization, not that he thought Hiei kissed him for romantic reasons but because he wished he did. In his mind he was kind of sure that Hiei was telling the truth and he really didn't love Kurama. But in his heart…

"Did you think it meant something?" Hiei asked in a not to friendly manner.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I know you entirely too well, and I know you have not the time or the patience to deal with what you may call 'Ningen' feelings." Kurama said, he chuckled underneath his breath and glanced at Hiei humorously.

"It seems you know me better than I thought, fox."

Kurama smiled genially at Hiei, and reluctantly Hiei forced an itty bitty tiny smile on his face in response, causing Kurama to beam. They both felt the light mood return into the train compartment, much to both of their reliefs; they both subconsciously let out soft sighs. Kurama continued grinning at Hiei, while Hiei peered at him with a rare spark of amusement in his eyes.

"So, Hiei, were they soft?" Kurama asked in a joking manner.

"What do you mean?"

"Were my lips as soft as they were rumored to be?"

Hiei actually chuckled, much to Kurama's surprise and delight. "… I don't remember…"

"Oh, really… if they were really that soft I'm sure you would remember."

"But, I don't, so I guess they weren't."

Kurama was about to respond when a still sleeping Kuwabara fell onto his lap. Hiei looked like he was about to burst in laughter because of the way that Kurama's expression changed from shocked to confused and then took a turn to embarrassment. Kurama tried his luck at pushing him off, only for him to move a little closer to Kurama's stomach; the kitsune rolled his eyes. Hiei merely smirked out of amusement, while Kurama nudged his elbow several times into Kuwabara's stomach and chest area. Kurama sighed loudly and leaned down into Kuwabara's ear and began to whisper.

"Kuwabara, could you please move, you're squishing me…" Kurama whispered quietly. A couple of seconds later, their compartment door opened, actually shocking both Hiei and Kurama; they secured their items just in case it was an enemy. Instead of any enemy their eyes laid upon two guys, they looked to be in their late 20s and they were American. Kurama could smell the alcohol on their breath; they looked around the compartment as if no one was in there, very strange behavior. After a while of their pointless idiotic staring, they noticed the other people inside.

"Oh! We're sorry; we didn't notice anyone else was in here…" The taller gentlemen slurred. Hiei snorted and turned away from the kids, while Kurama stared at them with a look that said: please-get-out-of-here.

"So, yeah, we'll...uh… we'll be going to find our real compartment now…" The shorter man said as he and the other man closed the door. As soon as the door was closed, Hiei and Kurama looked at each other, both of them outwardly confused. About two seconds later the door swung open again, revealing the same two gentlemen, only this time there was shock in their eyes instead of the usual crazy drunkard looks. "Please, miss, forgive me for being forward but you are the most beautiful specimen that I have seen all year."

Hiei's eyes snapped to Kurama as soon as he realized that that was who they were speaking to. Kurama glanced down outside of the window out of irritation, at first when people had mistaken him for a girl he found it rather amusing, but now it was getting rather annoying, especially the fact that they were flirting with him now.

"Don't look away; we won't be able to look at your face that way." The shorter man continued. Kurama only waved his hand annoyingly at him and over dramatically sighed.

"If you could just allow me to ask you a question," The taller man said, after getting no response from Kurama the man went on. "Why is a lovely girl like you, stuck in a room with such… heartless looking creatures?"

Kurama didn't answer him; he only shifted his gaze to Hiei; whom had a look of anger, disgust and… jealousy. Was Hiei jealous of these men who were hitting on his fox? Kurama wanted to smile at the realization that Hiei was jealous, he had never, and I mean NEVER seen Hiei jealous. Hiei had often commented that he didn't have a jealous bone in his body; if Kurama was sure that he wasn't going to get his head chopped off he would've teased Hiei about this endlessly.

Kurama was about to kindly tell the men that he was indeed a man, but before he could say anything Hiei piped in.

"If you don't want one of the heartless creatures to throw you outside this train then I'd suggest you shut up, leave the fox alone and go back to your seats!" Hiei murmured harshly.

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" The taller man asked him.

Hiei flinched for the second time that day. He watched Kurama place his hand on his mouth and laugh silently; Hiei bit down on his bottom lip and then forced his stare to the men standing at the doorway. "Yes…" Hiei spoke proudly.

The guys rolled their eyes and began to leave, while mumbling things underneath their breath. Things that went around the lines of 'Lucky Squirt…" and "Damnit, she looks way too tall for him…". Hiei was about to jump out of his seat and chop them both into tiny pieces, but stopped when he saw the look of caution on Kurama's gorgeous face. He settled himself down in his seat and crossed his arms angrily as he waited for the men to leave the area entirely. When they did, Hiei shifted his gaze to Kurama, who was confused and slightly amused; this only caused Hiei to glower him.

"Are you angry with me?" Kurama asked him, chuckling at the same time.

"Yes, it seems that out of everyone in the three worlds that I know, _you_ are the only one who attracts seems to constantly attract the rift raft."

Kurama giggled lightly at him and then pushed his hair back gingerly. "Sorry about that, I wish I could change."

A couple of minutes later they were both sound asleep.

* * *

After another twelve hours or so of riding the train, they arrived at Paris at about 6pm, in French time and were directed to their hotel rooms. As soon as Yuske and Kuwabara made it to their hotel room they collapsed in one of the rooms, going right back to sleep. Kurama and Hiei found their hotel room shortly afterwards and got themselves settled, Kurama neatly folded all of his clothing and placed them inside of the closet while Hiei only put his weapons and books, to keep him entertained, in places that the cleaning staff wouldn't find it. After a while, they both sat on their beds with the tv on, Hiei was irritated because he couldn't understand a word that was being spoken, while Kurama bit spent most of his time trying to follow while at the same time flipping through a French dictionary to some how come up with meanings for the words that were being thrown at him.

"…I'm bored…" Hiei said, actually sounding bored.

"How about you go to sleep like Yuske and Kuwabara?"

"I'm not tired."

"Well, what would you like to do?"

"I don't know… I just want to do something…"

Kurama rolled his eyes, and continued looking through his dictionary.

"How about we go look for that wolf pack?" Hiei asked hopefully.

Kurama scoffed. "Hiei, we aren't supposed to do that. Koenma sent us here to tail them wherever they went, so that when he figured out a way to destroy this nameless faceless weapon of theirs we can arrest them and send them to the Spirit World. We aren't supposed to go off spying on them unless we've been directly ordered." Kurama explained rationally.

"Hn…"

Kurama stood up from his bed with a huge smile on his face. "I have a great idea!" Hiei stared at Kurama, obviously willing to listen to any of Kurama's crazy ideas just to cure this boredom. "How about we go out to the park, like you said we would."

Hiei looked up into the ceiling, trying to recall exactly when he had said such a thing. Immediately, though, he remembered and let out a very irritated sigh. "Damnit fox, do you even know where the park is?"

"No, but I can find out…" Kurama said gleefully. He noticed the reluctant look on Hiei's face and he quickly pouted and walked closer to Hiei, sitting down on his bed. "Please Hiei; you know you have nothing else to do. And besides, what would be a better way to spend your time then with me?"

Hiei cut his eyes at the Kurama, and nodded. Kurama smiled and then he went onto one of the computers and began looking for the routes to his park.

* * *

**I know this chapter seems a bit rushed and that's because it kind of was; that's why it's so short and so full of dialogue. **

**Anyways, I hope someone likes it!**

**See you next time! **


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho in anyway shape or form, although it is a distant dream of mine

**Disclaimer- **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho in anyway shape or form, although it is a distant dream of mine

A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews; I love you all for it. Oh, and thank you Kuramarulez, I didn't even halfway notice the way that I was spelling Yusuke's name, and I probably wouldn't have ever noticed it. Now, I know thanks to you! So THANKS AGAIN. And thanks again to everyone else. Read and Enjoy!

**The Youkai Orpheus **

**Chapter 4- Luther**

After Kurama figured out exactly where they were going, they headed out. Only except for taking a train or a car, they both decided that it would be much better to walk there. They decided against waking Kuwabara and Yusuke and telling them where they were going; they figured it would be very entertaining to come back to the hotel room with thousands of questions being thrown at them about where they were, all of which they just wouldn't answer.

As they walked, Hiei couldn't help but find some kind of amusement in how excited Kurama was about seeing the gardens. Not that he really showed it, but Hiei was able to clearly see it in those big green eyes of his. Hiei couldn't imagine being that excited about anything, especially not going to see a few flowers; but in any case, he did enjoy seeing Kurama this way.

"Are you really this excited to see some stupid park?" Hiei asked him.

Kurama smiled pleasantly and nodded. "Just think, I've been alive for thousands and thousands of years and I've never even thought about observing any plants outside of Makai, and more recently anywhere out of Ningenkai Japan. Now, I get to observe an English Garden." Kurama said merrily. Hiei chuckled underneath his breath at the way that Kurama was behaving, it was displayed a childish innocence that Hiei had never really found in most men Kurama's age.

"Why did you refrain from visiting before?"

"Oh, well, as far as Ningenkai goes I'm still a teenager so going on trips by myself would be reckless, certainly not something anyone would expect of Shuichi Minamino. Plus, I don't have the time or the money to travel all the way to Europe just too see a couple of plants, despite the extent to which I love them." Kurama said calmly. He turned his eyes to Hiei, who was looking at him suspiciously; Kurama pursed his lips. "What?"

"There's more to your phony excuse and I want to hear it."

Kurama was not affected by this; he only smiled and poked out his bottom lip. "Okay, I didn't come here before because I knew that I wouldn't have any friends who could come with me."

"You don't have any friends in that Ningen School of yours?" Hiei asked him sarcastically.

"Well, of course I have people who consider themselves my friends. But, I would never invite them to go with me anywhere. But, now here I am with one of my closest friends." Kurama said this specifically to make Hiei feel a bit uncomfortable, which he did.

A small shade of pink made its way onto the sides of Hiei's cheeks; he turned his face to the side and glared at the concrete ground underneath him. "Hn…"

Kurama smiled humorously and continued walking. Hiei's eyes scanned the city, there were so many Ningen's here and he couldn't even feel any form of demon energy except for the energy coming from Kurama. Hiei was starting to believe that the fool Koenma was sending them on some kind of wild goose chase where they would be going from England to France everyday for the next month. And in that time he probably wouldn't even get as far as figuring out what they powerful weapon looked like. Anyways, back to this Ningen problem, he didn't like being around this many at all; they were everywhere, polluting the three worlds with their stupid feelings and weaknesses.

"You didn't tell me there were going to be so many Ningens here."

"Well, Hiei, we are in Ningenkai." Kurama replied, earning a glare from his counterpart.

"I don't appreciate know-it-all answers, fox." Hiei snarled. Kurama had to compel his smile to disappear before he showed Hiei just how vaguely he cared for his anger.

"Maybe there won't be as many people around at the park. It's not really tourist's season and it's starting to get late, we might have the whole park to ourselves." Kurama replied enthusiastically.

Unfortunately, when they got there it was the exact opposite; there were swarms of people there. Mostly American tourists and there were some French inhabitants, but most of them worked there. Hiei was beyond angry, he was absolutely livid; he hated being around this many Ningen's especially when they were this close to him, not to mention they could actually bump into him if they wanted to. Kurama didn't seem to mind as much as Hiei, but there was still a hint of irritation in his eyes at the people who would potentially get in the way of the gardens. They walked around slowly, observing the cascades of trees, many different kinds, all of which seemed more beautiful then the next. Although, Hiei couldn't really pay much attention to the trees because he kept bumping into the Humans who were carelessly strolling along, not even caring who they pushed by. As soon as they made it to the garden's Hiei could see the excitement in the fox's eyes, if he was one to openly display his feeling he would probably be hopping up and down like a jack rabbit. It was a little clearer here, there were less Ningens sniffing around much to Hiei's pleasure. Kurama was jumping around (not literally) from flower patch to flower patch, until he saw them… roses. His eyes lit up when he laid his eyes on the beautiful rose bush, he wanted to pry his hands onto one and pick it, but he knew that it wouldn't be customary. Instead, he just turned to Hiei with a small grin on his face.

"Aren't they the most beautiful things that you've ever seen?" Kurama didn't turn his head to look for Hiei's answer, his eyes were glued on the sight before him.

Hiei figured Kurama was not even halfway interested in what his answer might be, but he decided to give up his answer anyway. "No…" He replied bitterly. He watched as Kurama merely smiled at him and turned back to the flowers. And before Hiei could stop them a couple of words escaped his lips as he watched the smiling kitsune gaze lovingly at the flowers. "…Not the most beautiful." As soon as the words were uttered, Hiei felt his face going red and his eyes lift up to Kurama to see whether Kurama had caught on to what he meant.

Kurama, who wasn't paying any attention to what his friend had meant just looked at Hiei with the same grin on his face. After that he began walking again, Hiei sighed in relief and followed closely after the fox. They began walking around again, observing the beautiful gardens and all of the exotic trees that seemed to mesh together so well. Even Hiei had to admit, it wasn't ugly. As soon as they made it to the grotto, they decided to slow their pace down a bit and observe the lake and waterfall which were found in the grotto. As they did so, Kurama, always the conversationalist, decided to speak.

"Well, it's not a garden of roses, but it is nice." Kurama's voice was barely audible over the thrashing of the waterfall, but Hiei strained himself enough to hear his every word.

Hiei merely nodded.

Kurama smiled and then he turned his attention back to the waterfall. "I've seen many waterfalls and things in Makai and Japan, but I've never felt this good by being near one. Why do you think that is Hiei?" Kurama turned his attention to his shorter friend.

Hiei, always the silent one, responded with a shrug.

Kurama pouted and then turned back to the waterfall, following Hiei actions, he shrugged in response. "Well, I… I guess it's just my company for the day."

Hiei's scowled at Kurama. "Are you making an attempt to flirt, fox?"

"Of course not Hiei, I'm simply answering my own question."

Hiei glared at Kurama doubtfully, this kind of playful flirting exhibited from the fox usually didn't bother Hiei much, it actually used to amuse him. But after that night where he had kissed him, when Kurama mentioned things such as romance and love and when he playfully flirted, it made Hiei nervous and curious all at the same time. Hiei pried his eyes off of the kitsune and allowed them to fall onto the waterfall; it was nice and very calming, defiantly something that he would love to have in his own backyard, even though he had no backyard.

"You know some people say that this park is one of the most romantic in all of Europe." Kurama blurted subconsciously.

Hiei felt his cheeks warm up a bit; he glanced down to his toes and rubbed the back of his neck. "Why are you telling me this, Kurama?" Hiei's voice came out much harsher then intended, much to Kurama's surprise.

Kurama opened his mouth to answer his question, but closed it immediately afterwards and stared at his toes just like Hiei was doing; for the first time since he had gotten there, he actually frowned. Hiei noticed and he immediately felt bad, not that bad, he would never allow himself to get too regretful, but he felt bad. After a short while of silence that Kurama didn't fill, Hiei decided to do it for the first time.

"Well," Hiei began, getting immediate attention from Kurama. "This place doesn't seem very romantic…" Kurama chuckled unconscientiously and then moved a little bit closer to his friend.

"I kind of think it is, there's just something about waterfalls-" Kurama's wasn't able to complete his statement thanks to Hiei.

"Waterfalls? They're nothing but a large amount of running water, equivalent to that sink- thing that you use in your  
Ningen home."

Kurama nodded in agreement. "I guess you're right; but what about the garden's. They're pretty romantic."

Hiei snickered. "Yeah, like I haven't seen dozens of more romantic gardens just by knowing you for all of these years."

Kurama laughed silently, prompting even Hiei to grin. "Well, Hiei, I guess there really isn't anything all that romantic about this place. But, for some reason, I still can't manage to get this gooey feeling out of my stomach." Kurama placed his on his stomach and rubbed it.

Hiei smirked and then replied silently. "Maybe it's just the company…"

Kurama turned to Hiei and his smile dropped. "..Yes… maybe it is…"

Hiei looked closely at Kurama, who seemed to be leaning closer to him as each second passed. Hiei frowned and looked suspiciously at Kurama, he had no idea what was happening. Kurama had some kind of look in his eyes, the kind of look that confused and turned on Hiei, all at the same time. Before he knew it, Kurama had leaned down to Hiei's level and his lips were pressed onto Hiei's; Hiei had no reaction, he just stood there with his eyes wide and his body tensing. Hiei was feeling something so different from when he had kissed Kurama, having Kurama press his lips onto his voluntarily was the best feeling ever, he involuntarily leaned into the kiss and it seemed that as soon as that action was carried out, Kurama's lips were no longer on Hiei's, he was farther away from him and his eyes were now back in the waterfall. Kurama's emerald eyes were just as wide as Hiei's had been, and Hiei was still staring longingly into the spot where Kurama had been. When Hiei realized that Kurama was no longer near him, he frowned again and walked a little closer to the waterfall.

There was an extended amount of time where neither of them looked at one another, and an even longer mount of time that neither of them spoke. Eventually, though, the silence began to eat away at the both of them; to the point where they could no longer keep their silence.

Both of them uttered the others name at the same time, causing both of them to look down in contempt. After another pause, Kurama decided it was his turn to speak.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving. We should go find the restaurant." Hiei silently agreed and they were off.

* * *

It didn't take long for them to find the one restaurant that was in the place, it was slowly emptying, but still pretty full. Kurama and Hiei didn't speak a word to each other, mostly because they were both having inner conversations with themselves. Hiei couldn't help wondering the exact same thing that Kurama had probably been wondering a couple of days ago. Why did he kiss him? What did it mean? Why didn't he kiss him back? Surprisingly enough, Kurama was asking similar questions to himself.

When they made it to the restaurant, they were seated immediately in one of the terraces. They didn't speak at all until Kurama had ordered for both of them, he had no idea what he had ordered for himself but he only ordered Hiei a dessert, knowing that that was probably the only thing that he was sure he was going to eat. After they received their food, Hiei began to chomp down on the brownie and ice cream and Kurama began picking with the duck that he had apparently ordered.

"Hiei…" Kurama began; Hiei looked up, actually surprised that Kurama actually said a word to him. "You're better with knives and thing than I am, right?"

Hiei glared at Kurama skeptically. "… I suppose."

"Then, could you slice this duck for me, it's getting kind of difficult."

"You're an A-class demon, and you can't even cut a duck."

"I think it's burnt or something, please Hiei…" Kurama pushed his plate closer to Hiei. Hiei sighed loudly and pulled the plate a little closer to himself and began to slice it with his knife. After a while of slicing, much to his confusion, nothing happened.

"What the hell," Hiei angrily threw his fork down, causing most of the more dignified people in the restaurant to look at the pair in shock.

Kurama pulled his plate closer to himself and rested his head onto his hand. Hiei just looked back down at his food and began to eat again, while Kurama irritatingly sliced and chopped at his food. Both of them were receiving stares from the people around them, but they were way to into their own business to care.

"So, Kurama, why'd you kiss me?"

Kurama almost choked on his glass of water, he put it down and frowned at Hiei. He always knew that Hiei was blunt and was never afraid to ask a question that was on his mind. After a while, Kurama began speaking calmly.

"I'm not exactly sure Hiei." Kurama shifted in his seat and let his eyes fall onto the duck that was still sitting there completely unscathed on the table.

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Fox, I'd suggest you at least trying to come up with an excuse that sounds even half correct like I did."

"What do you expect me to say Hiei? Do you want me to make up some rumor and pass it off as an acceptable reason?" Hiei was kind of shocked at how eerily calm Kurama had just sounded.

"I don't know, you could always tell me the truth." Hiei frowned and took a big fat bite out of his brownie.

Kurama was silent for a second, apparently thinking about something. He replied after taking a long breath. "Perhaps it was just the setting. All of those lovely aromas, mixed with the smell of the waterfalls, and the trees…" Kurama trailed off with a dreamy look in his eyes.

When Hiei noticed Kurama slowly leaving this planet, he slapped him on the hand, getting an immediate jolt of attention from Kurama. "Do smells turn you on Kurama?"

Kurama's face immediately turned red after the question was asked. He turned away from Hiei quickly and spoke silently. "Well, they do sometimes. I must admit, pleasant smells do sometimes make me aroused… just like bad smells make me dizzy." Kurama's eyes turned back toward Hiei and he bit down on his bottom lip. "Anyways, when did we make this the subject?"

"Fine, we can always go back to the previous subject of why you kissed me."

Kurama mentally kicked himself; he went right back into the think mode and came up with something great. "I only did it because you did it first."

Hiei looked away angrily, silently cursing Kurama's quit-witted nature. Kurama sighed with relief when Hiei didn't say anything back, but little did he know, Hiei already had another question in mind. "Okay, well, since we're copying each other's actions, I have a question for you that you asked me yesterday. Did it mean anything?"

Kurama scratched his head out of frustration; Hiei sure was a smart one. This time, instead of making up some elaborate lie, Kurama decided to go with the truth. "I can't really say for sure, Hiei."

Hiei, who had been expecting some kind of elaborate lie, was completely and visibly shocked with Kurama's answer. "What do you mean you can't say for sure?" Hiei tried his hardest to sound mean and bitter, but he couldn't, his voice was full of anticipation. Could the fox really like him, love him? He wanted to badly to jump out of his seat and make the fox fess up, but that would probably prompt Kurama to really not say anything.

"Hiei, could we just leave it like that for now?" Kurama asked him, though the irritation was not easily recognizable in his voice, it was easy to see in his actions because of the way that he was harassing his duck with his fork. "I'm. Really. In. No. Mood. To. Talk. About-" Kurama beat his duck with his fork at every period, until at one word he hit it to hard ad his fork literally flew from his hand and out into the restaurant. Hiei and Kurama looked at it with fear in their eyes, although the both of them could easily catch it before it hit the ground, or worse, hit somebody, they didn't want to draw attention to themselves. When they noticed the knife was about to hit some man in the back of his head, they inwardly winced, and mentally prepared themselves to get thrown out of the restaurant or thrown into jail. But, then something amazing happened, just as the fork was about to touch the hair on the man's head, his hand flew back and he caught it before it touched one hair on the man's head. Hiei's eyes widened and Kurama gasped silently.

The man pulled the fork close to his nose and lightly sniffed it, causing Kurama and Hiei both to wrinkle their eyebrows. A second later, the man stood up from his seat and began walking toward Kurama and Hiei's table. Hiei grunted, really in no mood to be harassed by some Ningen. When the man made it to their table both Kurama and Hiei noticed a large amount of energy coming from him, he was defiantly a demon and despite his different eye color, he looked almost exactly like the leader of that wolf pack they'd been looking for. The man's attention was on Kurama and he actually had a pleasant smile on his face.

"I believe you dropped this." The man placed the fork on the napkin that was sitting near Kurama's plate.

Kurama muttered a silent thank you and gave a brief smile. "I apologize for that; I was having a bit of trouble with my duck."

The man let out a short laugh. "It seems our beloved chef is out sick again today. His replacement has been doing an amazing job burning everyone's food." Kurama giggled lightly, causing Hiei to subconsciously snort at the man and at Kurama. "Would you like me to help you out with that?"

Kurama shrugged. "If it wouldn't take up too much of your time..." Kurama replied with a small smile on his face and a glisten in his eyes. Hiei scowled at Kurama, he knew that Kurama knew that this was the wolf demon, so why in the hell was he so intent on keeping him around.

The man grinned and leaned down, grabbing Kurama's knife and spoon. He placed the spoon on the very middle of the duck and then he began to cut at the spoon and at the middle of the duck, until he finally made some kind of intrusion, at that point, he stuck the spoon into the duck and pulled out a lesser burnt part. Kurama smiled and chuckled, while Hiei gave a light 'Hn…" and made an 'I-could've-done-that' look.

"Wow, that's so amazing. Thank you." Kurama said happily, this time he looked the wolf demon dead in the face and smiled at him.

Hiei noticed a small twinkle in the eye of the wolf-demon and silently growled. "What angel is this, to venture so near to earth?" The wolf demon moved closer to Kurama, his expression one of the blunt admiration. "Would you mind telling me your name so that I can adore you properly?"

Kurama blushed and smiled a bit, he turned his attention to Hiei, who looked to be fuming. Kurama ignored this and turned back toward the wolf demon. "My name is Shuichi, but you can defiantly call me Kurama."

"…Kurama…" He tried it, before smiling at Kurama yet again. "That's a lovely name. My name is Luther." He reached his hand out for Kurama to take. Kurama reached his hand out, thinking that all that was going to happen was a good old fashioned handshake. But instead, his hand received a small peck from Luther. Kurama smiled at him, trying his hardest to conceal his wild heartbeat, to no avail.

Hiei grunted angrily, his nostrils were flaring and his eyes seemed like they'd gotten even redder. Kurama detected this, and pulled his hand away from the mouth of Luther, allowing it to rest on his lap. "Oh, Luther, this is my friend Hiei." Kurama introduced. Luther reached his hand out to him; Hiei, always the rude one, turned his nose up to him and turned away. Luther frowned and turned back to Kurama, Kurama forced a smile onto his face. "I'm sorry Luther, Hiei's not exactly in the best of moods today. He was just dumped."

Hiei snorted, and rolled his eyes; Luther merely laughed at his behavior. "It seems you're friend doesn't want me here. I'd better go, but I defiantly want to see you again, Kurama."

Kurama frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by

"You know what, how about I give you my card and you can call me when you make up your mind." Luther said smartly, before shooting a short look at Hiei. He reached into his pocket and passed Kurama a small piece of paper.

Kurama smiled at him and then let his eyes fall onto the paper; he scanned it for a while before looking back at Luther. "Wolf Tribe? What's that?" Kurama asked him suspiciously, seeing whether or not he could get an early confession.

Luther smiled. "My business," He answered simply. "Hopefully, I'll be seeing you, Kurama." With that said, he went back to his table.

When he was gone, Hiei glared at Kurama with a look of anger, confusion and disappointment. "What was that?"

"Hiei, I was just trying to determine whether or not that was actually him."

"So, you determined this by allowing him to kiss all over you?" Hiei asked harshly.

"He wasn't kissing all over me, he kissed my hand."

Hiei began growling, but quickly stopped when he noticed the death glare that Kurama was currently giving him. They ate the rest of their meals in silence and left the restaurant in silence. Both of them were ready to report to Koenma everything that had happened involving Luther; Hiei was preparing for the fireworks that Kurama was going to get for flirting with the enemy. When they got there, though, Kurama had received a much different reaction.

* * *

**There you go, chapter 4. **

**Thanks for reading, and review if you feel like it! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer- **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho in anyway shape or form, although it is a distant dream of mine

A/N:Okay, did I want to say or explain anything? Hmmm….Oh, yes! I've been accessing the story in my head for a couple of weeks now and I think I have the basic plot line for the most part. The only reason I'm telling you this is because I said that the story was loosely based on that old myth Orpheus and Eurydice, which is still kind of true. Except, when I say loosely, I mean very loosely because there are some events that aren't in the myth that I'm just going to kind of stick in this story.

**The Youkai Orpheus**

**Chapter 5- Maybe**

"Are you serious?" Yuske asked Kurama and Hiei after their story was finished.

"Yes…" Kurama replied with a very cautious look on his face. You see, he had allowed Hiei to tell the whole story, a big mistake on his part. Hiei had recounted it with some choice words about Kurama's actions, including flirty, hussy and skanky; and he had recounted Luther to be pathetic, desperate and obvious. Hiei didn't even almost care about his conduct, while Kurama spent most of his time pouting and blushing at the things that Hiei had said about him and his behavior.

There was a long moment of silence, where both Yusuke and Kuwabara seemed to be thinking about something, or scheming. While they were waiting, Kurama passed a glance at Hiei, who passed an angry glare right back at him before turning away angrily. Kurama flinched inwardly, and then turned his head away from him and back to Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"You should totally call him!" Kuwabara almost yelled out. Hiei wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion, wanting so badly to kill that idiot where he stood. Kurama hiccupped accidently and looked at Kuwabara wide eyed.

"Think about it Kurama," Kurama and Hiei both turned to Yusuke. "If you're dating that Luther guy, that means he won't leave Paris, which means, we won't have to get on another 12 hour train ride to… wherever else they go. We can all have al vacation, which we all need."

"This isn't a time for vacations, idiot!" Everyone's attention turned to the snarling fire demon.

"Hiei, can you honestly say that you aren't sick of working?" Kuwabara piped in.

"You people don't work! You go to that Ningen school everyday…" Hiei's tone was rising a bit, shocking everyone but Kurama, who was way too used to Hiei's short temper.

"Hey, School isn't as easy as you think it is, Shrimp. I bet we do more work in day then you do in a week." Kuwabara assumed rather unwisely.

"Oh, I'm sure the 7 hours a day you spend in school measures up to the nearly 20 hours that I spend working in Makai. Not to mention doing this shi—"

Hiei was immediately cut off by his counterpart, Kurama. "Hiei."

Hiei rolled his eyes and sighed angrily. "--This crap with Koenma."

"No one said you had to do this anymore." Yusuke said condescendingly.

Hiei scowled at him and turned away with a short 'Hn…'

Yuske rolled his eyes and focused his attention on Kurama. "So, Kurama, don't you think it's a good idea?"

Kurama opened his mouth to say something, but closed it immediately afterwards and turned his attention to the still scowling Hiei. "What do you think Hiei?"

Hiei was visibly shocked that Kurama would ask his advice; it's not like it really mattered what he thought, Kurama would do whatever the hell Kurama wants to do, that was his style. Hiei didn't even want to waste his time. "I don't care what you do, Kurama." Hiei retorted coldly.

Kurama frowned before sucking in a long breath. He turned away from Hiei and back to Kuwabara and Yusuke and forced a small smile on his face. "Well, I suppose it would be a rational decision. It would be much easier to spy on the Wolf pack if they stayed here. And of course with the correct types of _persuasion_ I might be able to acquire more information about that mystery weapon of theirs." Kurama supposed, making sure that the word persuasion sounded seductive for Hiei's sake.

Hiei growled and then shot the fox a glare. "You can't get important information by having sex, Kurama." Hiei barked scornfully. He almost wanted to punch Kurama in the face; he had no idea what his problem was. Why was he so excited to go around and date the enemy, the leader of a group that they were supposed to be tailing?

"Oh, you can Hiei, believe me." Kurama turned toward Hiei and smirked at him.

Hiei glowered at Kurama, now he wanted to punch him and kick him. "Yes, of course someone like you would know." Hiei snarled.

Yusuke and Kuwabara's jaw's dropped to the floor, they would have never expected a comment like that from Hiei… well, they would expect it from him, but not toward Kurama. Both of their hands turned toward Kurama in unison, Kurama looked a little shocked as well, but he quickly recovered and smiled at Hiei.

"That's true, I would know better than anyone. Oh, and I can remember every single man who has fallen pray to my sexual schemes..." Kurama turned his attention to Hiei, who seemed to be seething. This was obviously the reaction he was shooting for, so he smiled. "They were all so handsome, sexy and…" Kurama looked Hiei up and down and chuckled. "… And tall."

Kuwabara burst into laughter, immediately followed by Yusuke, who was holding onto a chair that he was standing near, just to keep himself from falling on the floor. Hiei balled his fists up and shot glares at Kuwabara and Yusuke, who just ended up laughing harder. Hiei's attention shifted to the glaring Kurama, who seemed to be just as pissed off as he was, Hiei forced a smirk on his face. "I should have guessed… no wonder there are so many old rumors about your past sex life."

The two idiots continued laughing, this time, though, Yusuke fell onto the floor and Kuwabara ended up laid out on the bed. Kurama bit down hard on his bottom lip as he tried to think up something to say back to him, and he just had to come up with something quick, Hiei still had that smug smirk on his face. Kurama sighed in defeat, he hated it when people brought up all of the embarrassing things about his life as Yoko and as a demon, it was one of his many embarrassments. Kurama cleared his throat and nodded. "Yes, I can only assume you've heard every rumor."

"Of course, how could I not." Hiei replied complacently.

Kurama smiled. "How unfortunate."

Hiei shot him a look of confusion. "What do you mean?"

Kurama smiled softly. "Well, it's unfortunate that you will be sitting here bored in our hotel room, while Luther gets to test out whether or not every single rumor is true." Kurama's voice was eerily calm, and his voice displayed truth; which only made Hiei angrier and for some odd reason, much sadder.

Hiei opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. Kurama looked like he was just waiting for Hiei to say something so that he could say something equally hurtful back to him. He just crossed his arms, and turned away from Kurama, signaling the end of the conversation. Kurama sighed and then turned back to Kuwabara and Yusuke, who were still recovering from their laughing fit.

"So, Kurama, when are you calling him?" Yusuke said with a huge smile still on his face from the previous happenings.

"Umm, I suppose right now would be fine." Kurama removed himself from the bed that he'd been sitting on and walked to the hotel's phone, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the card, searching for a number that didn't say fax. When he found it he lifted the telephone to his ear and passed one more glance at Hiei, who wasn't looking at him at all, he sighed quietly and turned then turned to the direction of the wall as he dialed and waited. After a while of ringing he heard a short click and then the smooth voice of Luther.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Luther, its Kurama...Remember, from the restaurant earlier today."

"Oh, yes, the beautiful angel; of course I remember you, I doubt I'll ever forget."

Kurama giggled lightly into the phone, earning a low growl from Hiei. "Well, I was calling to whether or not your offer for a date still stands."

"Of course it still stands; it will stand until the end of time for you."

"That's good because, I would really like to go out with you."

"Did you have a place in mind?"

"Well, no, I was kind of hoping you did. I'm fairly new to Paris and I'm afraid I don't know of a single place where we can go."

"That's no problem; I know a lot of great places we can go. What do you like to do?"

"Well, I do enjoy looking at gardens and I like to hear music."

"Do you like to eat?"

"When it's not a duck, I enjoying eating very much."

Kurama' couldn't help but notice just how dreamy Luther's laugh sounded over the phone. "Alright, I have the perfect place."

"That's great… so, when do you want to go?"

"How about tomorrow, the sooner I get to see my seraph, the better."

"Alright, then it's a date. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh yes, would you like me to come to wherever you're staying and pick you up, my little cherub?"

"No, don't bother; I'll come to your hotel room. Where is it?"

"I believe my hotel's name is on my card. And my room number is 2093."

"Okay, I'll be there around 3 or 4."

"I'll be counting the moments."

Kurama giggled again. "Goodbye, Luther."

"Goodbye, Angel."

When Kurama hung up the phone, he turned back around to the questioning eyes of Yusuke and Kuwabara and the spiteful eyes of Hiei. He turned away from Hiei quickly and back to Yusuke and Kuwabara, he smiled reassuringly at them. "We have a date, its set for tomorrow."

"That's great, now I can finally get some sleep without worrying about the toddler waking me up." Yusuke removed himself from the floor and began to walk out of the room. "See you guys tomorrow!" Kuwabara soon followed his example and left the room with short goodbyes to both Kurama and Hiei.

When they were gone, Kurama sighed in relief and sat down on the edge of his bed. He focused his attention on Hiei, immediately seeing the look of distaste on his face, he frowned. "Hiei, are we still mad at each other?"

Hiei didn't reply, he only turned his head farther to the direction where Kurama wasn't present.

Kurama rolled his eyes, but continued speaking. "What's wrong?"

Hiei's eyes widened, he didn't expect Kurama to continuously speak to him after their short spat a couple of minutes ago, not to mention that nice cold shoulder he just gave him. He overcame his shock quickly and shifted his gaze to his friend. "Nothings wrong with me, if anything I think there's something wrong with you."

Kurama simply smiled. "With me?"

"Yes with you, what ever happened to those annoying habits of yours? Understanding people's strategies and styles before you jump in and do something rash." Hiei could barely keep his inside voice because of this anger that was slowly building up inside of him for reasons unknown.

"Well, in a way, that is exactly what I'm doing; I'm getting to know my enemy now, so that later, when it's time to fight, I might know his weaknesses and strategies and fighting styles." Kurama began removing his shirt, much to the embarrassment of Hiei.

Regardless of his flustered appearance, Hiei responded. "Kurama, you're not going to learn anything by dating him."

"Yes, I will. You have no idea, what kinds of things people say when they fall in love."

"You plan to make him fall in love with you, fox?"

Kurama nodded.

"In a month?"

"Well, of course, you should know better than anyone that its possibility, with all of the rumors that you've heard I can only assume you would consider it a huge possibility."

Hiei rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'm not apologizing about that."

"I don't expect you to."

Hiei shifted uncomfortably in his bed and turned his attention away from the fox and onto his lap. "Kurama, I really don't want you to do this."

"Why not, Hiei; It's a good plan."

"It can backfire on you."

"How so?"

"What if he was to find out that you're tricking him? You heard what Koenma said, that guy is ruthless, if he finds out that you're really only trying to arrest him he'll kill you." Hiei's voice dropped during the word kill. He was being so serious, he was really afraid for Kurama's life and he was really pissed at Kurama for putting his life on the line just to make those two idiots more comfortable.

"Hiei, do you honestly think I'm going to let that man kill me?"

"I didn't say you were going to let him, I said he was going to kill you."

"I think I'm much too strong to get taken down by that guy."

"But what about this weapon that Koenma's been going on about?"

"Well, I'll—" Kurama stopped speaking, obviously he had forgotten all about what the weapon could do to him, if he was found out. He was kind of thankful that Hiei brought it up. "I guess I'll have to be really discreet when it comes to getting information from him."

"As long as you don't get yourself killed…" Hiei spoke quietly before he stood up and walked into the bathroom, intending to take a shower to get the stench of being within 3 feet of that wolf off of him. Kurama lay down on his bed and began to come up with some clever tricks he could use to get what he wanted. After Hiei was finished showering, Kurama followed his example, only he ended up spending about an hour in the shower compared to Hiei 7 minutes. After a while, they were both settled in their separate beds, trying their hardest to get some sleep; unfortunately, their internal conflicts wouldn't die down long enough for them to achieve rest. After a while of silence, Hiei decided to put his own inner quarrel to rest.

"So, Kurama, did the kiss mean anything?"

Kurama really wished he had fallen asleep earlier, at least that way Hiei couldn't speak to him. "Didn't we talk about this already?"

"No, you said that you didn't want to talk about it at that time. Now, it's a different time and I want to talk about it."

"I didn't say I didn't want to talk about it then. I said I was in no mood to talk about it and then my fork flew."

"Just answer my damn question so that I can go to sleep." Hiei said sternly.

Kurama turned his body away from Hiei and sighed. "Maybe it meant something…"

"Maybe? Either it did or it didn't."

"Why does it matter? The time when you kissed me, it didn't mean anything."

"How do you know that?"

"That's what you told me… were you lying?" Kurama turned back around to Hiei and looked at him with amusement.

Hiei's turned around to Kurama and glared. "When did this conversation become about me?"

Kurama shrugged and amiably smiled. "Was it a lie?"

Hiei rolled back onto his back so that he could face the ceiling, except for Kurama. "…Maybe…"

Kurama felt his heart leap out of his chest; he had never been so excited in his life. Hiei said maybe, MAYBE! That meant that there was actually a chance that he liked Kurama in a romantic way. "When are you going to change that maybe into a yes or no?"

Hiei was silent for a while, for a second Kurama actually thought he was sleeping, but that was before he heard Hiei's low voice from across the room. "When this stupid mission is over and you're not dating that wolf anymore."

"That's defiantly fair."

Hiei allowed a very small smile to come onto his face. He couldn't wait for the month to be over; when it was all over he could tell Kurama how he'd been feeling about him as of late. But that was only if the fox felt the same, which he couldn't determine until the fox changed his answer from maybe. "So, when is your answer going to change?"

"After yours does." Kurama turned away from Hiei again, his mind at ease for the first time that night, he had a bubbly feeling in his stomach again and this time he was going to embrace it. In a few short minutes he was in dreamland.

Hiei laid there, his eyes still on the ceiling. He had really thought that asking Kurama about the kiss would put his mind at rest, but that backfired. Now he had even more thoughts captivating his mind, to think that in a month's time whatever feeling he had for the fox would be publicly known was a great feeling, but at the same time, a very confusing one. He had no idea what he was going to say, what could he say, his feelings barely made sense to him, how was he ever going to shape them into words. But then again, when you really think about it the question was not what they felt for each other, it was whether or not their separate kisses meant anything. It was one simple question that deserved one simple answer, and Hiei knew what the answer was going to be, he could only hope Kurama's is the same.

* * *

**Chapter 5! **

**Hip Hip Hooray! **

**I'm so proud, I'm finally finished. **

**See you next time! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer- **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho in anyway shape or form, although it is a distant dream of mine

A/N: Okay, so I have to edit a mistake from a previous chapter of mine. When I was half-describing all of the members of the wolf pack, I described Vigor as having the stature of the elder Toguro brother. But just today, I was watching the show and I discovered that what I meant to say was the younger Toguro brother. Big fat mistake on my part, and I apologize for it. Anyways, read and enjoy!

**The Youkai Orpheus **

**Chapter 6- Pre-Date**

The next morning, Hiei awoke to the faint sound of humming and the beaming of sun touching his eyelids. Hiei groaned lowly, he had gotten no sleep the previous night; his head was filled with so many thoughts, so many unanswered questions that he couldn't ask Kurama because he had fallen asleep on him. He spent the entire night getting up and getting water, scrubbing his eyes and reading all of those boring repetitive books in the hotel. Unfortunately, none of those things made him forget the burdens in his head or made him sleepy. When it was like 2 o'clock, he figured he wasn't going to get to sleep that night, but then he turned to Kurama's bed. Kurama had turned back around in his sleep and was facing Hiei again; he was so gorgeous; his long red hair was hanging down the very end of his chin and his other cheek, perfectly framing his face. Hiei could say every delicate feature that his face beheld, his dainty nose, his solid eye lashes and those luscious lips that he sported ever so nicely. And then the way that he slept was so… well, funny. His mouth was opened slightly and his cheeks were oddly flustered, everything about him was so relaxed. For some reason, just watching Kurama that relaxed made Hiei relax as well, which lulled him to sleep.

Hiei pried his eyes open, he searched the left side of room and peered into the bathroom, he could still feel the heat radiating from bathroom; Kurama had obviously showered that morning, or did something involving hot water. He shifted to the other side of the room and saw Kurama sitting at the computer desk; he was using one hand to click on things and the other to brush his hair. Hiei noticed Kurama's hair was a little moist looking, he had defiantly just gotten out of the shower, he still smelt of roses and water.

Hiei lifted himself up in the bed; he continued staring at the kitsune, until Kurama took notice that he was awake. Kurama smiled at Hiei and placed his brush on the desk. "Good morning sleepy head, you're up late."

Hiei rubbed his eyes and inhaled sharply. "What time is it?"

"Umm... Let's see… it's two o'clock." Kurama focused his attention on the computer screen again.

"What are you doing, fox?"

"I'm finding out which way I should go to get to Luther's hotel room."

Hiei groaned and intentionally hit the back of his head on the bed post. "Do you have to do that now?"

"Well, my date _is_ in about an hour." Kurama replied calmly.

Hiei sighed exasperatingly. "I can't wait until all of this is over."

"Me neither." Kurama made one final click on the computer and he had his directions. When he had studied it close enough, he turned the computer off and swung his chair around so that it was facing the still tired Hiei. "Are you hungry?"

Hiei shrugged, he really wasn't sure. When he sleeps this long he gets bad stomach aches, it makes him think he needs to throw up, when he gets in these states it's pretty hard to know whether your hungry or not.

"Would you like me to order room service?" Kurama removed himself from the chair and walked to the phone before Hiei had any time to answer Kurama's question. He quickly dialed the phone number for room service and while it was ringing he turned to Hiei and smiled at him. "What would you like?"

Hiei shrugged again.

"Okay, I'll just get you anything." Kurama's head snapped away from Hiei when someone from downstairs answered the phone. He ordered something small for Hiei and a glass of orange juice for himself, Hiei wanted the fox to eat something but Kurama insisted that he would eat on his date. When Kurama hung up the phone he walked to his suitcase and began throwing clothes around inside, even throwing some around the room, allowing something to hit Hiei in the chest.

"Damnit, fox, be careful." Hiei threw the shirt that had hit him back at Kurama.

Kurama didn't pay any attention; he just continued throwing things around until he found exactly what he had been looking for. He pulled his clothes out and quickly ran into the bathroom, possibly to shower before his date was supposed to start. Hiei glared angrily at the door, the fact that the fox was so uppity and excited to go out on a date with the enemy upset him. He was in no hurry for him to go yet; he would rather Kurama staying with him for a little longer.

Hiei removed himself from his bed and quickly dressed himself in his normal type of attire, after that he began reading some of the books that he had been reading the previous night. About 15 minutes later his food came, which only consisted of toast, eggs and bacon. Despite this, he begrudgingly ate his food, barely getting halfway through his "meal" when Kurama walked out of the bathroom.

When Hiei saw Kurama exit the bathroom, the toast that had presently been in his mouth literally dropped along with his jaw. He looked great, he was wearing a very long jacket type thing, it had two sets of buttons in the middle and it trailed all the way down to his thigh. He had it buttoned up so tight that you could see his little figure perfectly. Along with that he was wearing a pair of black tight-ish pants, which fit his legs very nicely. He allowed his hair to fall around his shoulders and back like he usually did; only this time it looked different, more sensual and lusty. Although, the most alluring thing about Kurama was the way that he smelled; it seemed like a mixture of roses, honey and candy. Just the smell of Kurama made Hiei's chest tingly; he was beginning to wonder whether or not he gets turned on by smells like Kurama does.

"How do I look?" Kurama asked Hiei as he walked to one of the mirrors that were in the room.

"You look like an idiot." Hiei rudely responded.

Kurama chuckled underneath his breath, and then began messing around with his hair. "So, I look good then?"

Hiei looked down at his food and began nibbling on the small piece of bacon. "Yeah…" Hiei made sure that his voice was so low that only he could hear it, even though he was sure Kurama heard it a little bit. When Kurama freed himself from the mirror, he sat down on his bed and began humming. There was a long moment of silence between the two before Hiei decided to speak up. "You know what I don't understand?"

"What?"

"You'll go out dressed up like that for a date with a guy who you don't even like. But, when you go out with me, you dress the exact same way that you do when you're at home… nothing special." Hiei snarled bitterly.

Kurama smiled at him and shrugged. "I suppose it's because what I'm doing now is an actual date with a man that I'm trying to impress. Not a friendly outing like we went on a yesterday."

Hiei didn't say another word; he only continued nibbling on his food.

Kurama cleared his throat awkwardly and then glanced down at the phone. "Oh, look at the time… my date is about to start. I guess I'll be leaving now." Kurama got up and walked to the door.

"Wait Kurama!" Hiei stood up and ran to the side of the kitsune.

"What?"

"I'm coming with you." Hiei demanded.

Kurama pouted and clung to the door knob. "Do you _honestly_ think I'm going to get any information from Luther with you hanging around?"

"No, I'm not going with you on your date. I'm walking you to the hotel."

"Why?"

"I'm just looking out for your safety fox, what if he already knows that you're supposed to be arresting him and he's setting up an ambush for you? You don't _honestly_ think you can handle his entire team by yourself, do you?" Kurama's face was slowly starting to understand Hiei's reasoning. While Hiei was making this explanation up as he went along. He was sure that Luther didn't know about Kurama yet, and even if he did, he wouldn't let it be known so early. He just wanted to go with Kurama for reasons that he wasn't quite sure of yet.

"You know what, that makes a lot of sense, Hiei. I'm surprised I didn't think of it."

Hiei shrugged and smirked smugly. "You're lucky my head isn't filled with all of your silly thoughts."

"You're right, I am lucky. So, are you ready to go now or do you have something to do first?"

Hiei wanted to have something to do, he really did, but he couldn't think of anything, and lying to Kurama was never the right way to go, regardless of his desire to keep Kurama away from that wolf. Instead of answering Hiei just took Kurama's hands off of the doorknob and opened it for himself, exiting the room. Kurama followed after him soon after. After that informed Yusuke and Kuwabara about them leaving, they set off. It was a very silent walk, they both spent it looking around at the tall buildings and beautiful scenery that Paris had to offer, neither of them had a care in the world, until they laid eyes on the beautiful hotel that Luther was staying in, they were both instantly jealous.

The outside of the hotel was similar to a castle; it was tall and made of a lovely gray marble. Even the ground surrounding the hotel was fancy; it sported a black carpet complete with golden bars. After they were finished appreciating the exterior of the building, they made they way inside so that they can view the interior, which turned out to be more breathtaking then the outside. The floors were bright blue and apparently they were glass, in the pattern of triangles that merge to form diamonds. In addition to that there were lights underneath the glass, which made the entire area shine bright with the color of the glass. In the middle of the floor was a large bouquet of flowers, one that Kurama seemed to visibly appreciate. About 15 feet above the bouquet was a golden chandelier, it seemed to give off the same light that the floor lights did, only it was much richer and more vibrant than the lights that the floor displayed. In addition to that we were many white leather couches and coffee tables gracing the many corners of this lobby. There were also many bars and mini restaurants…it was like the perfect hotel. After they were finished observing the lobby, Kurama and Hiei made their way to the front desk, they figured that in this kind of restaurant they would have to ask for permission to go anywhere but the lobby.

Kurama was the first to approach one of the women who seemed to be bored and irritated. "Hello, miss?" Kurama tapped the desk awkwardly to get her attention. She didn't notice seem to notice him until Hiei politely said something.

"Excuse Idiot female who's-not-doing-her-job!" Hiei was quite obviously in a bad mood already and yelling at Ningen females was exactly what he needed to cool himself down.

The woman jumped up from her supposed day dream and looked at the very peeved fire demon, who she thought was just a really short guy with a really short fuse. She made a face at him and turned her attention to the nicest of the pair. "What can I do for you, sir?" Her French accent came out strong.

Kurama smiled pleasantly at her after shooting a glare a dark glare at Hiei. "Can you contact room 2093 and tell Luther that his friend is downstairs?"

The woman picked up the phone and was on her way to dialing before something dawned on her. "Are you Kurama?"

"Yes."

"Oh, then…" The woman went down on her knees and picked something up from the cubby hole in his desk. When she reappeared she had a velvet box in her hands and a huge smile on his face. "… This is for you."

Kurama smiled, knowing that this was from the very romantic Luther. He passed a glance at Hiei who was staring at the box as if he was going to blast it into oblivion any second now. Kurama didn't seem to care, he only smiled at the receptionist. "This is really sweet, Ms.—" Kurama fixed his eyes on the woman's name tag and grinned. "-- Ms. Agnew, but I'm afraid I just can't accept this. I mean, we just met a couple of seconds ago."

The girl let out a very obnoxious laugh. "Those aren't from me silly, they're from Monsieur L. He told me that he is very smitten with you."

"Well, isn't that sweet?" Hiei said sarcastically, Kurama shot him another glare and then he allowed his eyes to fall upon the box in front of him. He hadn't opened it yet, and was starting to get very ants. He placed his hand on the edge of the case and slowly opened it, inside was a very big amulet, it was green and red with a golden chain. Kurama's eyes nearly bulged out of his head; it was something weird inside of him that made him want to run upstairs and kiss Luther until his lips fell off. But he contained himself for Hiei's sake. He closed the case softly and turned his attention to Hiei, who looked like he was ready to kill someone.

"Luther said that if you don't mind, you can go upstairs and meet some of his friends before you head out."

"Oh, he did, I guess we'd better get up there, right Hiei?"

"Hn." Hiei turned his head to the side and frowned.

Kurama just smiled at the women behind the counter. "Nice meeting you, and thank you for relaying those messages to me."

"No big deal, bye cutie…" She said happily, then her attention shifted to the smaller of the two. "And bye, little cutie." Hiei growled and got into battle stance, but before he could launch his attack, Kurama grabbed onto his arm and began to pull him toward the elevator.

"Hiei, you have a very bad attitude today, don't you?" Kurama asked him as they stepped on the elevator.

"It's not my fault." Hiei replied bitterly.

"I'm sure it's not." Kurama murmured. He pressed the button for the floor that the room was possibly on while Hiei looked around the elevator, trying to determine just how safe it actually is. "Could you please try to act a little nicer when we get upstairs? I don't want to make a bad impression so early in the relationship."

"So, this is a relationship now?" Hiei asked him rudely.

"I'm sure you know what I meant." The elevator made a bell sound and the doors slowly opened to reveal another lobby with only two doors gracing it, so obviously these were the only rooms on this very large floor. This lobby looked very boring when you compared it to the one that had been gracing the front lobby. The walls were a bland and slightly faded cream color; there were plants on both sides of the two staircases that outlined the luxurious home. Beside the plants were burgundy curtains that were more than likely not blocking any kind of window. There were also sofa's and things, obviously not for a particular reason. The spectacular thing in that room was a white chandelier that hung in the very middle of the room. Kurama and Hiei made their way to the door that had the correct number on it and Kurama softly knocked.

The door was opened a couple of seconds later by a old man, both Hiei and Kurama knew that was Judicious. He smiled pleasantly at both of them; they could've mistaken him for a nice person if they didn't know any of his past histories. Kurama forced s mile onto his face, while Hiei looked at the man with disgust. "Hello sir, I'm Kurama. Is Luther here?"

The man nodded softly, not even bothering to say a word to him. Kurama watched the man disappear into the hotel room. They both waited for a couple of seconds before someone who wasn't Luther walked up to the door. It was Grubby, he had a piece of very stinky cheese in his hands, and a large can of salsa in the other. Hiei honestly wanted to vomit from the smells of the food mixed together, not to mention the smell of the man holding the food. He raised his eyes to meet Kurama, who looked like he was about to faint. "Maybe Kurama wasn't lying about getting dizzy over bad smells.'" Hiei muttered.

"Who are you?" Grubby asked them, allowing his breath to spread to both of their nostrils.

Kurama breathed in whatever clean air he could find and held onto it. "I'm Kurama, is Luther home?" Kurama forced out in one breath.

"Uh…" Grubby began to ponder in his head; He never really got back to them. A couple of seconds later another man came up to the door, he was tall and very physically fit. It was Vigor. He stared Kurama and Hiei down, while they tried their hardest to do the same, there was only one problem. Kurama only came up to the demon's upper chest and Hiei… well; you could imagine where Hiei was.

"Luther will be out in a second." Vigor's voice displayed almost no emotion. He walked back into the hotel room and out of the sight of the two visitors.

They waited patiently at the door with the still pondering Grubby. Kurama looked like he was really starting to get dazed, he was swaying and moaning very softly. Hiei almost felt bad for him, but chalked all of it up as Kurama's fault and tried to ignore it. And he actually did mange to ignore it, up until Kurama actually swooned. He fell forward, and Hiei hadn't noticed in time to catch him, but, before he knew it, the wolf was out there like some kind of knight in shining armor. He had Kurama in his arms before a strand of his hair had even touched the floor. Kurama's eyes dramatically fluttered open and he smiled at Luther. Hiei knew, at this point, that Kurama had faked his fall just to get into the arms of that wolf. Damn, he was good at seducing people.

"I'm sorry; I've been feeling dizzy all day." Kurama moved himself off of Luther by sliding his hands down his chest and stomach, and then softly pushing back.

"Oh, why didn't you cancel our date for the day then? I would've understood." Luther placed his hand on Kurama's lower side jaw and rubbed it softly, showing true concern that made Hiei snarl.

Kurama smiled amiably, and ran his hand down the taller man's chest one more time as he spoke. "I just couldn't do that. I was too excited to go out with you… I'm sure I'll be just fine."

Luther allowed his hands to slip from Kurama's jaw and down to his neck. "Well, if you're sure. But I'm going to make sure I stick very close to you incase you have another episode. Okay, angel?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Kurama's voice was low and seductive; Hiei felt jealousy building up n his stomach, why hadn't Kurama ever spoken to him like that? The man's head fell to the side and he saw Hiei, he wrinkled his eyebrows, obviously he was very confused.

"Oh, you're here. Well, this is a treat." Luther said sarcastically. Hiei just made a face and quickly turned away from him.

"Please don't be angry, Hiei won't be joining us for the date. He had so many things to do; he just insisted on walking me here."

"That makes sense, you have great friends." Kurama shrugged, and then leaned up and gave his date a light kiss on the cheek. Luther responded by placing a light kiss on Kurama's forehead, then there was a short cascade of giggling and chuckling from the two demons. Hiei stared at the display with disgust; he was disgusted with Kurama and that Wolf.

"Goodness, you guy's haven't even known each other a day and you're already fondling." They all turned around to the voice of the last remaining pack member, Pace. He was a little short, shorter than Kurama but bigger than Hiei, somewhere caught in the middle. He walked with a cane, but he displayed no limping.

Luther smiled at Pace, Kurama couldn't help but notice that his smile looked a little agitated. "That rude man over there is Pace. Please don't mind him, my angel, he's having a bad day."

Kurama smiled at Pace and bowed a bit. "Nice to meet you, Pace."

Pace merely nodded in response to Kurama, and then he walked a little closer to the both of them. He seemed to be sizing down Kurama, he had moved a little closer to his face and he even sniffed him once. After a while of this close observation, which was making Hiei want to kill him by the way, Pace shrugged and stepped back. "I suppose he's much better than most of the other people you've brought home. Even though, he's a demon… him and the short one"

Hiei shot Kurama a ready look, making sure that he was ready to go into battle, if it came to that. Kurama nodded shortly and backed away from Luther with a small frown on his face.

"You're a demon, Kurama?" Luther asked uneasily.

"Yes…" Kurama replied hesitantly, he reached to the back of his head, getting ready to chop him into bits if he tried something.

"That is so great! I am too."

Kurama snapped his hand back to his side and smiled at Luther. "Wow, I didn't even notice."

"Wait…" His voice went from excited to serious all too quickly. "Why is your body human?"

Kurama looked down and blushed. "Can I explain all of that some other time; I really just want to get to the date." Kurama desperately clawed at the sleeves on Luther's jacket and made a pouty face. Luther smiled at Kurama and he placed his hand on the side of Kurama's waist.

"Of course, let's go…" Luther waved goodbye to all of his friends, then Kurama and Luther left the hotel with Hiei following silently behind them. When they made it outside of the hotel, Kurama turned to Hiei and smiled sadly at him.

"I'll see you later, Hiei." Kurama spoke quietly; he patted Hiei's shoulder and then turned away from Hiei. Luther give Hiei a smug smirk, before he rapped his arm around Kurama's shoulders and began walking down the street. Hiei looked on with a look of discontent. He'd be dammed if he allowed Kurama to go on that date alone!

* * *

**Chapter 6! Hippy Hippy Hoorah! **

**I'm finished, and I some how finished this earlier then usual.. well, by a few hours! **

**Review please! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer- **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho in anyway shape or form, although it is a distant dream of mine

A/N: Nothing much to say today...

**The Youkai Orpheus **

**Chapter 7- The date**

As Kurama walked down the sidewalk with Luther's arm rapped firmly around his shoulders, he couldn't help but think about Hiei. He did feel bad about going out with Luther, for some reason he thought that he might be indirectly hurting Hiei's feelings. Kurama turned around, focusing his attention on the scorned fire demon that stood many meters away from them. Kurama could tell that he was glaring, even from that far away, he could feel those piercing red eyes of his glued to his back, it didn't scare him though or anger him, for some reason he actually felt happy knowing that Hiei cared enough about him to stand there until they were out of eye range. But, Kurama could only hope that once they were out of eye range, Hiei would go back to the hotel and wait for him. Kurama was snapped out of his thoughts when Luther's hand slid down from his shoulder and back down to his waist, giving him a light squeeze. As much as Kurama didn't want to admit it, he did often miss being touched like this. He hadn't been in a relationship, romantic or sexual in over 17 years; it had been a while since someone had caresses him or squeezed him gently… or roughly, for that matter.

Luther gave Kurama another pinch before he buried his nose into Kurama's neck. Kurama could hear him sniffing away and couldn't help but giggle. "Well, you're very touchy man, aren't you?"

Luther chuckled into Kurama's ear, and kept his head in Kurama's neck. "You smell so delicious. I just want to eat you up."

Kurama laughed quietly, but still awkwardly moved a couple of feet away from Luther. "Why are you in Ningenkai and not in Makai?" Kurama figured he might as well get some of this "cross-examining" done while he still felt like it.

Luther pouted at the sudden removal of his face from Kurama's tasty neck. He recovered quickly and shrugged at Kurama's question before he grabbed the end of Kurama's arm and pulled the shorter kitsune a little bit closer to him. "I couldn't tell you for sure. There are many reasons why I'm here in Ningenkai, but, my main reason is that my friends and I are working on a project here."

"A Project?"

"Yes, a very important project. We've been working on it for years, And, I'm pretty excited to say that we might be finished in the next couple of weeks." Luther voice displayed absolutely no emotion, regardless though, Kurama knew that he wasn't lying… that's what worried him the most.

Kurama strained a smile on his face and snuggled in a little closer to his date. He was very disgusted with himself for acting so clingy with this wolf; but he knew from past experiences that this was necessary for getting useful information. "If your 'project' is supposed to be finished in a couple of weeks, how did you possibly find time to come out with me?"

"I'd pass up anything in the world to spend a day with you."

"Really?" Kurama couldn't stop the blush that forced its way onto his face; he brushed back a small portion of his hair and then smiled at her. "You barely know me…" Kurama added.

"Yes, but I see your face, and that's enough for me."

"You're awfully blunt." Kurama couldn't help but notice that another demon that he knows is just as blunt. "… And you're very shallow."

Luther shrugged. "Either way, I am interested in getting to know you. Even more so, now that I know you're a demon."

"So, that fascinates you?"

"_You_ fascinate me."

Kurama grinned and nervously glanced down to the pavement. It had been a while since he'd been fawned over like this, well other than that time with Karasu, which doesn't count as far as Kurama is concerned. It was nice having someone say nice things to him, if only Hiei acted like this sometimes. After that, they walked for what seemed like forever in silence, before Kurama decided to speak."So, where are we going?"

Luther's grip shifted quickly from Kurama's lower arm to his hand, he gave it a light squeeze before answering. "It's a surprise."

"Aww, that's no fun." Kurama began swinging their hands back and forth with a playful pout on his face.

"Well, if you're so interested in fun, we can always take the date back to my hotel room." Luther said seductively. Aft6erwards, he let out a low growl in Kurama's ear, accidently making Kurama giggle.

"I think I'd rather wait for the surprise, if you don't mind."

"Yeah, I figured."

Kurama giggled for what seemed like the ninetieth time that day, oh goodness, if only this guy wasn't an enemy. Kurama moved a little closer to Luther, feeling strangely comfortable in his arms or maybe he wasn't actually comfortable, maybe he missed this kind of connection so much that he would see a useless hobo on the street as comfortable. Kurama rubbed his head on the edge of Luther's shoulder; he could hear Luther letting out light moans of appreciation.

"Oh, look, we're here." Luther let go of Kurama's hand and walked in front of him to a bench table.

Kurama stared at the slightly grimy park bench table and shuttered. "You're not serious."

"I'm very serious, Come on, take a seat."

Kurama looked at him for a while, trying to make sure that he was serious, and then he reluctantly took a seat. He took a long look at Luther, who was just smiling with an amused look on his face. All of a sudden, Kurama smelled something, it smelled so sweet, like flowers… Flowers! No, Kurama didn't see any flowers; all he saw was this dingy grass. Kurama heard Luther laughing uproariously as Kurama sniffed around.

"Where—where is that smell coming from?"

Luther smiled. "Hmmm… well, I'll tell you when the date's over. How about that?"

Kurama groaned playfully. "Aww… well, alright." Kurama gave up on the sniffing and sat up straight on the bench. "So, what exactly are we going to do?"

"Well, we're going to eat."

"Eat what?"

As soon as Kurama said those words, out came, from behind the bushes three people dressed in butlers outfits, all of them had something in their hands. One of them had two small platters; one held the drinks and one held one small platter. Kurama was very impressed, he hadn't even sensed their presence, he smiled and turned toward Luther, whom was smiling back at him with desire in his dark eyes, which Kurama noted were supposed to be an entire different color. Luther snapped his fingers and one of the men placed his two separate platters in front of Kurama and Luther, Kurama lifted the top off of his platter and saw his meal. It looked delicious, but there was only one problem…

"Duck! You got me duck?" Kurama asked him, a sickly feeling came into his stomach just to think that he was going to have to deal with the duck shenanigans again.

"Yes, I couldn't resist." Luther chuckled underneath his statement.

Kurama shook his head and frowned. "You're so mean."

"I'm not mean; believe it or not, I did that for a reason."

"What reason could that possibly be?"

Luther didn't answer; he merely reached over his platter and using a knife and fork, slowly cut Kurama's duck. Kurama waited for Luther with a huge smile on his face; not to long afterwards, Luther was finished, he lifted the small piece of

Duck to Kurama's mouth and slid it onto his bottom lip before popping it into the kitsune's mouth. Kurama let out a light moan as soon as the food was in his mouth, and then swallowed it happily.

"You're going to do this all day?" Kurama asked him as he licked some of the excess duck sauce off of his lip.

"If I can hear moans like that all day, then of course I am." Kurama giggled and then shrugged, before opening his mouth.

--

Meanwhile, Hiei was watching this display with disgust; yes he had followed them on their date. How could he not, what if they were planning some kind of ambush to take place later on during the date? Then Kurama would be sitting there looking stupid, while getting killed by all of those wolf demons, and he just wouldn't be a god "friend" if he allowed anything like that to happen. Now, after seeing this display, Hiei doubted there was going to be any ambush, in fact, Hiei was beginning to regret ever stalking them there in the first place. He hated watching Kurama with someone else, he had never seen it before, and now that he was witnessing it for the first time he wanted to kill Kurama twenty times over. Ever since Hiei saw them snuggling up to each other on the walk there, he had an achy feeling in his stomach and heart, he had no idea what it was. Was it disgust? Maybe. Was it pity for Kurama's situation? Could be. Maybe it was jealousy? The thought had crossed Hiei mind a couple of times, but he ended up dismissing it. There was no way possible that he was jealous of anything involving Kurama or that wolf. Besides, being jealous wasn't in Hiei's nature; he had probably mistaken some of his feelings as jealousy, when they were really other things like disgust or embarrassment. Either way, he wasn't jealous. No siree.

--

After all of Kurama's duck was finished, Kurama gave his lips one last lick to make sure that he had wiped off every trace of the duck sauce. Luther just watched in amusement, Kurama smiled at his date when he was finished. "Well, it's been a while since someone did that with me?"

"It's been a while since someone has fed you?" Kurama nodded regrettably. "Well, that's shocking. I would think someone like yourself would obtain such luxuries as someone feeding you all the time. I suppose I was wrong."

"Don't get me wrong, many people have chosen to evoke such luxuries on me. But that was a very long time ago." Kurama hated admitting these things to himself, let alone to others. He missed being the one in which everyone through themselves at; he'd been flirted with here in Ningenkai, yes. But demons are so different from humans; they aren't shy about doing things such as feeding someone, massaging someone, or even killing someone, to show their affections. Although, that is not the case with most demons.

"How long?"

"Over seventeen years." Luther cringed, making Kurama almost burst into laughter. "I know it's a shock. But it's not my fault, you see, I—" Kurama's voice was drowned out by the voice of the wolf demon sitting across from him.

"Can I take a guess?" Luther asked him as he took a small sip of his wine. Kurama opened his mouth to speak, but Luther had no intention of giving him a chance to answer. "You fell in love with someone… you tried to pursue them, thus causing you to refuse every romantic offer passed at you. But that person was a little to dense to understand your feelings, now you're either trying to date other people or you're trying to make this person jealous."

Kurama smiled sadly at him and pathetically nodded. "You can read me like a book."

"So, did you go come out with me today to make this person jealous or are you because you like me?"

Kurama pouted, he hadn't been expecting this and he hadn't been planning to be put on the spot like this. But, he regained his composure and smiled at the wolf. "A little bit of both, actually"

Luther smiled at him, obviously he expected the answer. "Whoever this person was, must have been an absolute fool to refuse you."

Kurama almost choked at the simple idea of someone refusing him, that was a laugh and half. "Oh, no… he didn't refuse me. He just never knew my feelings."

"How unfortunate for him; and how very fortunate for me."

Hiei sighed loudly, he was having a very hard time hearing them… not that he needed to hear what they were saying or anything, I mean, as far as he was concerned, he wasn't really spying on them, he was just watching Kurama. Anyways, Hiei moved a little closer to the 'couple'. He ended up hiding behind a very large and sturdy tree, it wasn't super close to Kurama and Luther, but it wasn't too far either, Hiei was able to hear almost every word that the couple was saying. He wasn't interested in the conversation at first, until he heard the wolf mention something about Kurama pursuing someone.

'_Kurama is pursuing someone… or was pursuing someone? That's not possible, if Kurama was pursuing someone he would've told me a long time ago. Stupid secretive fox!' _

Hiei decided on moving a little closer to the action, maybe he can find out more about this 'mystery' person of Kurama's, He slowly moved around the tree, with back facing his stalkees. Then, out of nowhere, Hiei felt something brushing against his back and then bump against it. He was almost frightened enough to let out a scream, but he did maintain his composure long enough to pull out his katana and turn to who he had bumped into. When he saw the man's face, he couldn't help but let out a silent gasp.

"…Pace?"

Pace looked at him up and down with a small frown on his face. "Hey, you're that shorty from earlier."

Hiei scowled, but didn't reply; because he knew that if he did, he and Pace would end up in a fight and Kurama would know that he followed him out there because of how loud he was sure to be.

Pace rolled his eyes at Hiei's silence and simply frowned at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same question." Hiei replied angrily.

"Well, if you must know, I'm here to make sure that my friends date goes _well_." Hiei noted that Pace's voice held a bit of mischief, which, as far as he was concerned, was a good thing. "Why are you here?" Pace added.

"To make sure that my friend's date goes _very_ well."

"… So, in making sure that this date goes well, you want to spy on my friend and make sure that he doesn't do anything to your friend?"

Hiei looked at him with a bit of skepticism in his eyes. Damn, this guy was smart.

Pace chuckled nattily. "I thought so… well, I'm doing the same thing."

Hiei glowered; there was no way this demon thought Kurama was going to do anything to that Wolf; he could if he had a mind to, but he didn't even look like the type. Pace noticed Hiei angry expression and laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to make sure that you're friend doesn't do anything to mine. It's more of the other way around."

"Why would you think that wolf would do anything to Kurama?"

"That's the way he is… he's a very dangerous demon."

Hiei looked at the slightly taller wolf in shock. Now, don't get me wrong, Hiei knew that this man was dangerous, but for his own friend to call him that had to mean that he was really dangerous. "What do you mean dangerous?"

"I mean it just like I said it. Luther is a dangerous demon, the kind that demons as fragile as your friend shouldn't get involved with."

Hiei found himself getting offended, he couldn't call Kurama fragile. He didn't even know him. "My fox is not fragile!"

Pace looked at him surprisingly and then smirked. "_Your_ fox? Oh, now I see."

Hiei stared at the ground angrily, he really needed to think about the words he was going to use before he uses them. "Th—that's not what I meant…" Hiei stammered.

"Of course it's not…" Hiei heard a soft chuckle come out of his speech. "Anyways, if I were you I'd get _my_ fox away from Luther as soon as possible before he's in way too deep." Hiei had no idea whether he was talking about Kurama or Luther.

"Hn…"

--

Meanwhile, Kurama and Luther were still seated at the table, having forgotten whatever conversations they had before, Kurama spent his time drinking all of that delicious wine that Luther had supplied him with. While Luther spent his time eating the food that he hadn't gotten the chance to eat because he's been feeding Kurama. Kurama took another swig of the wine before setting it down on the table with a hard bang. Luther's attention snapped back to Kurama and he smiled comically.

"You're really enjoying your wine…" Luther noted.

Kurama nodded and smiled big at the wolf. "It's very flavorful."

Luther chuckled. "Would you like another glass?"

"No thank you; I find I have a very low tolerance for alcohol."

"Well, in that case I must insist that you have a couple more glasses." Luther reached up and took the wine bottle out of the hands of one of his 'servants'.

Kurama chuckled nervously and then slid his glass away from him. "I'd suggest you try not to get me drunk, you'll end up regretting it later." Kurama joked.

"Will I?" Luther asked him with an amused sparkle in his eyes. As soon as Kurama nodded, he handed the glass back to his servant and smiled at Kurama; Kurama smiled back at him and playfully raised his eyebrows. "So, would you like to know where the pleasant smell is coming from?"

"Is it already the end of the date?"

"No, I just really want to tell you."

"Why?"

"Because you're spending too much of your time sniffing around and trying to figure out what it is. And personally, I would rather you focusing your attention on this date." Luther reached into his jacket and pulled out a single rose. Kurama decided that it was the most beautiful rose that he had ever seen, for some odd reason it looked brighter and redder. Kurama could smell the sweet smell even stronger now; Kurama couldn't believe that pleasant smell was coming from one little rose. It excited him and Luther could clearly see it in his face.

"Wow…" Was the only word that Kurama could utter.

""I hoped you'd like it… It's yours." Luther stood up and walked to the other side of the bench table; Kurama just smiled dreamily as he soaked in the beautiful smell of the rose he was about to receive. Luther stood behind Kurama and ran the soft rose down Kurama's even softer cheek. Kurama couldn't contain his ecstasy, the way that his counterpart was running the petal down his cheek mixed in with the intoxicating smell of the rose, turned Kurama on. It seemed Luther noticed this because he leaned down into Kurama's ear and blew softly into it. "So, Kurama, how far do you go on a first date?"

Kurama moaned softly and then shrugged. "It depends on the person."

"Oh, well, that's nice…" At that point Luther stepped to the side of Kurama's chair, leaned down and pressed his lips onto his Kurama's. Kurama responded by wrapping his arms around Luther's neck and moaning silently into the kiss. He couldn't help it; the kiss was so intoxicating. The best that he had in so many years; even better than those "kisses" he had with Hiei. Luther pried Kurama's lips open with his strangely strong tongue; Kurama opened his mouth and let out a light groan as he and Luther gave a new meaning to the term "French Kiss".

--

Hiei and Pace watched the sight from their positions. Pace looked amused, while Hiei looked angry and disgusted all at the same time. Pace chuckled at Hiei's demeanor. "Would you like me to end this date early?"

"How?"

Pace sighed exasperatingly. "Would you like me to?"

Hiei didn't answer, but Pace knew what the answer was. He turned away from the Hiei and hid behind the tree. He pulled out a phone and dialed one number. He raised it to his ear and waited.

--

Kurama and Luther continued kissing for what seemed like forever before Luther felt something vibrating in his pockets. Luther pulled away after a couple of seconds, much to Kurama's dismay. He smiled sadly at Kurama and then reached into his jacket for the second time today; he pulled out his cellular phone and began to speak.

"Pace?... What? You know I'm on a date… Is it really that much of a problem?... Are you sure?... This can't wait a couple of hours? … Okay, Okay, fine… I'll be there in about 15 minutes… Thanks Pace."

When Luther got off of the phone he smiled disappointingly at Kurama and stood up. He placed his hand on Kurama's shoulder and shrugged. "I'm really sorry, Kurama, I was really having a good time."

Kurama smiled. "It's okay."

"I would defiantly like to do this some other time. How about you call me tomorrow and we can make some arrangements."

Kurama nodded. "Alright, I'll call you."

Luther smiled at him and gave him a light pat on the shoulder. "Oh, I just remembered, we never got to eat our dessert… Would you like to take it home?" Kurama looked like he was about to decline, but when Luther offered him that big shiny platter along with it… well, let's just say Kurama can't resist shiny things. He nodded and was immediately handed that small platter of food. "Would you like me to walk you back to your hotel?"

"No thank you. I think I can make it there on my own."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few days, Kurama." Luther walked away, along with his three servants, leaving Kurama sitting on the park bench table with a very dreamy look on his face. He hadn't had a kiss like that in a while, and to be honest, he couldn't wait to have another.

**The End! For Now…**

**I can't wait to write the next chapter. Oh and that chapter will probably come before Monday, which will mean that it will be sort of short. **

**I'm starting school in a couple of days. weeps**


	8. Chapter: none

Hello all of you

Hello all of you!

Miss dimple here.

I'm sorry about the amount of time that it is taking me to get this next chapter up.

My poor computer got a virus and so far it's taken weeks to finish it up.

I promise to tell all of you when it's finished and I will post immediately afterwards.

Again, I apologize.




	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer- I do not own Yu yu hakusho in any way, shape or form

**Disclaimer- I do not own Yu yu hakusho in any way, shape or form. –sighs- this just never gets old… **

**A/N- Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! I'm back, I'm finally back! I could totally die of happiness right now. My mummy bought my sister and I laptop until our computer gets fixed. Anyways, in the light of all of my downtime, I got like twenty thousand other ideas for this story and new stories… so many new ideas, in fact, that I think I might have to alter my summary for this one a bit. Now, on with the story!**

**The Youkai Orpheus **

**Chapter 8- Post Date Problems**

Hiei sat crossed legged in the middle of his bed, his brain slowly processing everything that he had seen and heard in the past day. He bit down hard on his bottom lip out of anger at that wolf, anger at that fox and anger at that damn Pace. Hiei couldn't help replaying that kissing scene between Kurama and that Luther over and over and over and over again. The way that Kurama clung to that man's neck, the way that the wolf stuck his tongue into Kurama's "virgin" mouth... Kurama hadn't even allowed Hiei to kiss him in his mouth, but for some reason, this wolf gets those kinds of privileges. So unfair. And then, all of that stuff that Pace said about Luther being dangerous to Kurama, he wanted to believe that Pace was only saying that to scare him into agreeing to end the date early; but something didn't sit right with him involving that wolf and if his own partner said that he was dangerous then he had to be dangerous.

Hiei heard the door behind him slowly opening; a bright light coupled with a skinny shadow presented itself on the floor of his dark room. He had expected Kurama back hours before; apparently he had gone out somewhere, judging by all of the bags that Hiei could hear shuffling. He listened as Kurama mumbled something about it 'Being so dark' inside of the room. He turned on the lights, instantaneously stinging Hiei's eyes, although, regardless, Hiei didn't turn around to face the approaching fox.

"Hello Hiei! I thought you would be sleeping by now."

"Well, I thought you would've been back by, like, 2 hours ago,"

Kurama rolled his eyes and dropped a couple of his bags on the floor. "I can do without the smart remarks tonight Hiei, I'm in too good of a mood."

"A good mood?" Hiei asked him bitterly, he turned around and glanced at Kurama, who still seemed to be a little flustered from his early festivities, and scowled at him.

Kurama nodded at him and smiled. "Yes, a very good mood."

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

"No, not at all," Kurama took a seat beside Hiei on his bed. Hiei was couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, Kurama smelt so different from what he had smelled like when he'd left, he smelled sweeter and more natural then before; while, at the same time his scent was a bit tainted… by that wolf. "That date was a complete success; I wasn't able to get a lot of information. But, I do know that he is working on a 'project' right now and he should be finished in the next couple of weeks. The only problem is Koenma never told us what they were up to; which means I'll have to do a lot more persuading to get more information."

Hiei didn't reply at first, he hadn't actually heard too much of what Kurama had said, he only caught that word that Kurama was saying (and misusing) so much lately, persuasion, that damn word that made him want to scream. "So, what kind of persuasion did you use today?"

"I didn't have to use persuasion, we only spoke today." Kurama said smoothly, almost as if he wasn't lying.

Hiei frowned angrily before removing himself from the bed and walking to the window and glaring out at nothing in particular. Kurama shrugged before standing up and going to his bags and pulling things out. Hiei wasn't doing well with not concentrating on Kurama, he could hear his every motion, his every breath; and he could smell his scent fading and getting closer as he moved farther and closer to Hiei's current destination. He wanted to hit him, to ruin his happy mood because he felt the need to lie. But at the same time, he wanted to believe that Kurama really hadn't lock lips with that wolf and he imagined it all for the sake of entertaining himself… but, he knew his imagination was not that active.

* * *

_Hiei stood behind the tree with a frown on his face as he watched Luther leave the swooning Kurama behind. Kurama still seemed to be in a trance from that 'kiss' that he had just received. It disgusted Hiei, but luckily it would be over soon and Kurama would be back in their hotel room, their Luther-free hotel room. Hiei turned his attention back toward Pace, who was looking on at the sight proudly. He leaned down on his cane and turned to Hiei with a smirk on his face. _

"_That's what you wanted, correct?" _

_Hiei merely nodded as he turned his attention back to Kurama who was dreamily smelling the rose at the time, while picking at the dessert that he had gotten. Hiei couldn't help noting how soft his face looked, and how green his eyes were when they're surrounded by an abundance of trees and grass. He almost smiled, but he maintained himself because he was currently in public. Pace chuckled lightly before turning his attention to Kurama and smirking. _

"_I'll remind you of my warning, get him away from your Luther as soon as possible… but that's only if you want 'your' fox, to actually belong to you and you alone." _

_Hiei looked at the man and glared. "What do you mean?" _

"_My buddy Luther loves to do a lot of things, but his favorite has always been to fall in love with beautiful things and in some instances, people. The only problem is… he has a terrible habit of tainting these beauty's; he never does it purposely and he has been trying to stop. But, I'm afraid your friend is beautiful enough to meet his standards, maybe even excel it." _

_Hiei glanced back at Kurama, who seemed to be packing up to leave, and thought about the possibility of anything happening to him because of that wolf. He couldn't let that happen…_

_Tainted_

_Kurama _

_Tainted… _

"… _What do you mean…" Hiei began as he turned back to where Pace had been standing only to see that he was no longer there. Hiei frowned, but figured that Pace had the right idea, when he saw Kurama approaching his tree. He fled quickly. _

* * *

Hiei continued staring into the big city of Paris; he had read in one of Kurama's books that Paris was supposed to be beautiful. Hiei couldn't see beauty in a place that harbored men like Luther. Luther apparently contaminated beauty; he had already contaminated Paris as far as Hiei was concerned. Hiei glanced at Kurama and frowned; he knew Kurama was strong, one of the strongest people that he knew, but could he handle that wolf? He was failing miserably so far.

"…Kurama." Hiei murmured.

Kurama glanced at Hiei and smiled politely at him. "Yes Hiei?"

"I think you should quit while you're ahead."

"Ahead of what?"

"Quit seeing Luther before he finds out what you're doing and kills you."

Kurama chuckled underneath his breath. "Hiei, Luther is not going to kill me; I'm not completely helpless you know, I _can _hold my own. It's not like I'm some C-class."

"That's not the point Kurama; he's not as weak as you think!" At this point, Hiei had no control over his voice, and Kurama was pretty offended by his rash tone.

"And I'm not as weak as you think!" Kurama yelled, easily matching the tone of his friend.

Hiei sighed angrily before turning his attention away from Kurama and glared outside of the window again. "I really don't think it's a good idea, fox."

"Well, Hiei, regardless of what you think, I'm going to continue. It's a clever way to get information, and it's always a good way to analyze an enemy before attacking. And, when I think about it, it's very safe."

"How so?"

"Well, I have reason to believe that he's 'fascinated' with me; which means he must like me."

"So… no one minds killing people they like, especially if they betray them."

"He's not going to kill me; I'll make sure of it."

"What are you going to do, have another make out session?"

Kurama pouted and wrinkled his eye brows in confusion. "How did you know…" Kurama's voice drifted off until it faltered. Hiei frowned and turned away, he knew Kurama was piecing together what he had just heard and was seconds away from coming up with his conclusion. "… Did you follow me?"

Hiei didn't reply; he only stared out in the city, getting ready for the fireworks to start.

"Hiei, I can't believe you followed me. Do you have any idea what could've happened if he noticed you were there, he could've found us out and then I really would be dead right now."

"Didn't you just say you wouldn't let him kill you?"

Kurama opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it and looked down. "That's not the point, Hiei. That date was intended to be private."

"Yeah, I know, that's why you handled all your _personal _business in a public park." Hiei replied resentfully.

"I meant it was private from you." Kurama said spitefully.

Kurama scowled before turning away from Hiei as soon as Hiei turned to look at Kurama. He angrily turned back toward the window and dropped his voice, he really wasn't in the mood for arguing with him tonight; he was still kind of pissed. "Fox, I don't care who you go around kissing, as long as it's not him. That guy is dangerous, you knew that way before you started seeing him."

Kurama sighed. "Hiei, I can handle it. Don't worry about it." Kurama voice was calm again; he began shifting through his bag with a frown.

"I just… don't care anymore." Hiei muttered almost too low for Kurama to hear.

Kurama frowned, passing one quick glance at Hiei, before sighing silently and walking toward the bathroom. Before he closed the door he murmured a silent. "Fine…"

Hiei looked at the bathroom for a couple of seconds before rolling his eyes and yelling. "…Fine!"

Hiei was getting a little agitated, the fights between Kurama and Hiei were always so calm, and Hiei wasn't exactly one for these kinds of conflicts. He wasn't satisfied yet; Kurama was no good for venting frustrations to. Hiei walked away from the window and to one of the bags that Kurama had been shifting through, he rolled his eyes when he noticed that there were clothes inside. He snatched them all from his bag and placed them on Kurama's bed, contemplating something bad he could do to them in order to ease his present anger. His face lit up into a deviant smirk.

* * *

When Hiei was finished his job he smiled smugly at the amazing work he had done. Now, he had been planning to start yelling at Kurama again as soon as he walked out of the bathroom, but luckily for the fox, what he did to his clothes calmed him down just fine. He stuffed all of the clothing back into their original bags and focused his attention back onto the ledge beside the window. He gazed out the window just like he had been doing when Kurama left the room. He heard the sink water stopping inside of the bathroom and seconds later Kurama escaped the bathroom, now sporting different clothes and wet hair.

Hiei couldn't hear even a bit of motion going on behind him; he could almost feel Kurama's piercing green eyes on the back of his neck. After a while, Kurama turned away from Hiei and began moving again. The shorter demon could no longer tell whether Kurama was still mad. But there were ways to tell if Kurama was still angry, if he doesn't speak some kind of nonsense to before two minutes is up, he is still mad at you. If he doesn't speak to you for over five minutes then he is pissed at you, if he says nothing anywhere over ten minutes then he's about to kill you. Hiei awkwardly sat on the ledge of the window as the minutes ticked by. Kurama was behind him forcefully brushing his long red hair, Hiei could hear every stroke.

He glanced at the clock inside of the room, Kurama had pretty much explained all of this clock business to him a couple of months ago. He used to judge the time of day by the sun and moon positions until Kurama helped him discover an easier way. And from what he could tell, Kurama had left the bathroom three minutes before, which meant that there were only seven more minutes until Hiei was going to be introduced to a premature grave. Minutes began ticking away slowly; up until it had been almost 9 minutes, Hiei was beginning to get nervous before he heard the distant voice of his friend.

"Hiei?"

Hiei turned around and looked at Kurama, he could tell that he was still a little aggravated, his voice was dangerously stern. "What…"

"I have desserts, would you like to eat them with me?"

Hiei shrugged. He could tell that Kurama was trying to smooth things over, Hiei kind of felt bad for what he did to his new clothes. He peeled himself off of the ledge and walked to the itty bitty table that was placed in their room, a table that was barely made for two. He took a seat in one of the chairs and crossed his arms tightly across his chest. Kurama joined him shortly afterward; he forced a smiled on his face before pulling out that dessert and placing it in front of Hiei. It was a big chunk of rum cake; Kurama couldn't help but chuckle.

"Wow, Luther was trying to get me drunk."

Hiei looked sharply at Kurama with anger in his eyes. Kurama sighed; obviously his friend wasn't in the joking mood. He dropped his eyes to the table and frowned. "Hiei, just eat, alright…"

Hiei glared at Kurama for a while before hesitantly digging into the tasty cake. Kurama didn't eat a bite, he merely watched Hiei as he feasted upon the dessert that Luther had given to him. Hiei noticed this constant staring at once, but he didn't say anything or stare back at him. He figured Kurama was thinking and just so happened to look in Hiei's direction. Hiei continued eating. He could recall eating a cake that tasted just like this before, Kurama had fed it to him once when they were spending time up in his room alone while the rest of his family was having dinner down the stairs. He had originally fed it to him as a joke, to see whether or not he could get completely lightheaded, fortunately, Hiei had eaten the whole cake and ended up completely fine and craving more. Kurama called him fat for the rest of the day.

Hiei glanced quickly at Kurama as he ate and frowned. "Why are you staring at me?"

"Well, I just wanted to say something… but, finish getting your fill of the cake first." Kurama offered. Hiei simply shrugged before returning to his cake.

Much to Hiei's dismay, he could still feel Kurama's eyes on him. He let out a low growl, hoping that it would faze Kurama just a little bit, unfortunately, that wasn't the case; Kurama's eyes stayed on him, unmoving, and almost unblinking. Hiei raised his eyes and glowered at Kurama; Kurama frowned and dropped his eyes to the wooden table underneath his elbows.

"Hiei," Kurama muttered. Hiei glanced at Kurama expectantly. "I was thinking about what you said and I think you're right."

Hiei looked at Kurama, his mouth was in the shape of an O; it had been a while since Kurama actually admitted that he had been wrong. Hiei wanted so badly to through a large party in honor of Kurama's broken pride. He smirked before looking back down into the almost gone cake. "So, does that mean you're going to stop?"

Kurama chuckled lightly and rested his hands in his palms. "No."

"Then, why did you tell me that?"

"Because I wanted to make you feel good before I told you that I no longer want you following me around on my dates anymore."

Hiei raised an eyebrow and quickly turned away. "Whatever…" Hiei murmured, not really expecting Kurama to believe him, seeing as he didn't even believe himself.

"I'm serious Hiei."

"I'm serious too."

Kurama stared at him, obviously unconvinced. "So… no more following?"

Hiei nodded.

Kurama smiled at him, and then he removed himself from his seat and ran over to his bags, causing a fearful feeling to bubble up in Hiei's stomach. "You would never guess what I bought!"

"Wait, don't--" Too late. Kurama pulled out a couple of torn pieces of his shirts, he wrinkled his eyebrows before mouthing the word 'What'. He dropped the ruined clothes onto his bed and began digging into the bag again, only to find more and more shredded clothing. Hiei shifted his eyes away from him, if Kurama wasn't going to kill him a couple of minutes before; he was defiantly going to do it now.

"Hiei-- Why-- I—" Kurama stuttered along. Hiei didn't answer; he only turned away from his friend and frowned. He heard small sounds coming from Kurama, it almost sounded like he was crying. He turned around and saw Kurama with his hand on his stomach and his hand over his mouth.

"Are you crying?"

Kurama shook his head, his face was very strained. He removed his hand from his mouth and all Hiei could see was a huge smile. He was laughing. Hiei rubbed his eyes to make sure that what he was seeing was really happening, when he saw Kurama basically hunched over in laughter, he scowled and turned away. All of that hard work of ruining Kurama's clothes for nothing; he's happy about this. Hiei growled lowly. "Why are you happy?"

Kurama stifled his laughing and turned to Hiei. "I'm sorry, it's funny, that's all."

"Fox, I ripped your clothes…"

"Well, yeah, but--" Kurama shrugged before throwing his clothing back on his bed. "These clothes weren't only for me to enjoy."

Hiei wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion. "What!?"

"Well, you remember earlier today when you were complaining about how I dressed too good for Luther, so I bought new clothes for the next time we go out. But, I guess I'll be stuck in my old clothes…" Kurama faked a fairly obvious sad voice.

Hiei huffed angrily. "Buy more clothes."

"No, I wouldn't want to make you bare the burden of ripping them up again…"

* * *

**OMG!**

**This was such a filler chapter. **

**But, I'm glad I'm back and updating again. **

**I'm excited about the next chapter!**

**Until next time!!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer- I do not own Yu yu hakusho in any way, shape or form. –sighs- this just never gets old… **

**A/N- **

**The Youkai Orpheus **

**Chapter 9- Bickering **

Hiei sat in his and Kurama's hotel room alone for the third time this week. Kurama had been out almost every night since they got there, it seemed that every time that he and Kurama would start to make plans to do something, Luther would call him up and invite him to dinner at a fancy restaurant, or a show at an opera house, or maybe even just lounge in one of the many parks. The thing that annoyed Hiei the most was that Kurama would always come back with huge smiles on his face, that seemed almost unmovable, and Hiei naturally took this as a challenge and would often pick fights with him on purpose to make them go away.

Hiei was beginning to feel that any type of relationship that he had with Kurama or was about to have, whether it was friendship or a love bond was chipping away as the days went by. They argued almost everyday, when they weren't arguing they weren't speaking, and they no longer even attempted to make plans with each other anymore. Hiei had tried his hand at apologizing to Kurama by giving him a rose, which he searched an hour to find. When Hiei had come back to deliver his gift, he saw Kurama sitting over a large vase of red and white roses, from his 'beloved' Luther. This prompted a new argument.

Days and days of constant irritation were getting to the both of them.

Hiei stood up and walked to the window, he peered outside to check for Kurama; so far he was getting nothing. He sighed, he couldn't help but worry a little, no matter how pissed he was with him. He couldn't stop the questions from coming into his head; did Luther find him out? Was he okay? Was he dead? Was he making out with that wolf again? Hiei groaned and plopped down on his bed. He lay down on his back and wrapped his arms behind his head.

Even after all of these weeks, Hiei couldn't help but replay that image of Kurama kissing Luther. He feared that they were still doing things like touching and kissing and other things that Hiei wasn't ready to think about at the moment. It pained him to think that Kurama may be getting accosted by that wolf at that very moment. Hiei angrily kicked the bed underneath his leg. What if Kurama was that Luther made some kind of claim on him? Like a marking? Hiei inwardly shuttered, he had to stop thinking about it, nothing bad will happen. Kurama will come back tripping over himself, looking flustered and nervous like he did everyday.

'_You know, when I think about it I'd rather Kurama come back limping then swooning' _Hiei almost chuckled at the though, but he caught himself and frowned. This whole 'being worried' crap was really starting to get to him; why is it that the fox is the only one who could get him to these irritating points of Ningen emotion.

Hiei ran to the window again, _still no Kurama_. Hiei walked back to his bed and lay down upon it. He didn't realize he had fallen asleep until he heard the door open and someone stepping in. He shot up quickly and looked at the door only to see Kurama stumbling in, trying to smooth out his clothing and hair at the same time. He had little presents in his hands as usual, things like flowers and boxes.

He wasn't stumbling inside like some kind of drunken idiot, for once. He actually looked a little disturbed; he was rubbing the front of his neck and groaning irritably. He turned to Hiei and raised his lips into a smile. "Hello Hiei, I didn't notice you were awake."

Hiei simply nodded. He didn't return the smile though; he was more focused on what was wrong with Kurama's neck. He watched as Kurama walked into the bathroom, leaving Hiei to sit on the bed alone. Hiei's eyes rested on the small pile of stuff that resided on Kurama's bed. It was too much stuff! And Kurama wasn't even excited about it like he usually is, he's brushing it all off as if it was something that Hiei had given him.

Hiei got up from the bed and walked to the bathroom with a determined gleam in his crimson eyes. He stopped at the closed door and listened closely into the door; he could hear Kurama mumbling something to himself, way too low for even Hiei to make out. Hiei inwardly growled before opening the door. Kurama, surprisingly, didn't notice him coming in. All he did was carelessly dab at what looked like a bloody bruise on his lower neck area. Hiei squinted at the mark, he couldn't tell what it could be or where it could've come from; unfortunately, there was way too much blood to identify it. Hiei lightly tapped Kurama on the shoulder, gaining his attention in a snap. Kurama actually looked afraid for a second, but he quickly recovered and smiled.

"Hello Hiei, if I'd known you would be joining me in here I would've worn something a bit more appropriate." Kurama said softly. He was obviously referring to how far his shirt was buttoned down because of his cut or bruise… whatever that was.

Hiei scowled at his lame attempts at humor.

Kurama turned back to the mirror, his face flashed with disdain when he noticed his cut was bleeding again. He muttered something under his breath that Hiei would've sworn sounded like 'Oh damn'. He placed a wet cloth on his neck and kept it there for a while.

"So… what happened to your neck?" Hiei asked him.

Kurama looked a little shocked, as if he didn't know that Hiei had noticed the mark on his neck. He slapped his hand over his cut and chuckled. "You're observant tonight, aren't you?"

"You don't have to be observant to notice a cut like that." Hiei pointed at Kurama's hand, which was starting to look a little red.

"Oh, well you're correct Hiei." Kurama muttered before redirecting his attention to the mirror.

"Kurama you are not _that_ good at avoiding the subject."

Kurama chuckled lightly and shrugged. "You're right…" He pushed pass Hiei and exited the bathroom.

Hiei lingered in the bathroom for a while, observing small drips of blood on the bathroom counter and the bloody tissue that had been thrown carelessly into the sink. He groaned angrily and, fully intending to interrogate his little nuisance some more, turned to leave the bathroom before he noticed something… this bathroom smelled strange. It didn't smell like Kurama or his blood… it smelled more like…

A low growl escaped Hiei's throat. This place reeked of that wolf, which means that Kurama reeked of that wolf… which means…

Hiei stomped out of the bathroom with a huge frown on his face. Kurama, once again, paid no attention; he was too busy trying to lick the blood off of his fingers.

"So, Luther did that, huh?" Hiei snapped Kurama out of one of his fake trances for what seemed like the ninetieth time that day.

Kurama didn't answer, nor did he glance once at Hiei. He just stood there and continued playing with his cut.

"How?" Hiei's voice was very low, almost to the point where Kurama couldn't hear.

Kurama noted how tense and strained his voice had gotten. He chuckled underneath his breath and nodded. "Yes, he did. It was kind of funny actually."

Hiei crossed his eyes unconvincingly. "Funny?"

Kurama nodded and smiled. "Very Funny, you see we were just sitting there talking about music and old Ningen movies and he said 'Kurama you're eyes are as beautiful as your soul'." Kurama chuckled at his imitation of the much deeper voice belonging to his companion. "And then, I said, 'Is my hair as beautiful as my eyes?'… And he said… You're not interested in this at all, are you Hiei?"

Hiei shook his head irritably. He was in no mood to listen to Kurama prattle on like a school girl.

Kurama glanced into his lap understandably, if he was in Hiei's position he would probably feel a little uncomfortable too. "Well, anyways, one thing led to another and we started kissing. He got a little too frisky with my lower neck and… well, here we are."

Hiei turned away from Kurama. "And, you're completely okay with this?"

"Well, yeah."

Hiei shrugged, he didn't want to push the issue any further because he knew that if he thought about it too much he would end up getting pissed and before the night was out he and Kurama would end up in a fight again. Regardless, of how inevitable it was, Hiei refused to be the one to start it tonight.

Kurama smiled at him before rubbing at his scar again. "You're in a good mood tonight."

I'm pretty sure, that sounded like a fairly simple comment to your ears, but to Hiei's… it sounded a bit different. He took it as more of a smart-ass comment, seeing as those have escaped Kurama's mouth so frequently lately. He shot Kurama a glare and made a rather disgusted face. "What the hell does that mean?"

Kurama chuckled underneath his breath. Hiei had half-expected Kurama to fly off of the handle and attack him or something. But luckily for Hiei, Kurama did mean his earlier comment in the exact way that Hiei had interpreted it. "It means you're in a good mood, for once." Kurama replied bitterly.

Hiei let out an exasperated sigh and walked a bit closer to Kurama. "For the record, you started this..."

---

Last Night had been brutal in Hiei's opinion. He and Kurama had fought from about the time when Kurama had come in until they went to sleep that night, which was roughly 7 o' clock the next morning. And there were barely any break points, it went on and on and on and on; and the subjects were endless. They seemed to bicker about any old thing that came into their heads; for about 15 minutes they were about to throw hands over a misplaced pair of shoes, after that they argues about which bed belonged to whom, then there was a very brief argument about the length of Kurama's hair.

The longest and, in Hiei's opinion, worst of all of that fights that they had was about what they always argued about. Luther. Kurama was the one who brought it up; he had made a rather snappy comment about Luther never picking arguments with him; Kurama knew it was childish and he knew Hiei knew that it was childish, but he also knew that Hiei was going to indulge in the argument no matter how childish it was. Anyways, that argument ended about 2 or three hours later, right before they had gone to bed actually.

---

"… _And that's the end of the conversation!" Kurama almost yelled as he lay in his bed. _

_Hiei gave defiant stare, before slamming his foot on the floor beneath his feet. "You don't tell me when the hell my conversation is over!"_

"_It's my conversation, I started it remember?" _

"_Yeah, and I'm finishing it, not you!"_

"_Alright, go right ahead Hiei…" Kurama shifted his sight onto Hiei and gave him a challenging look. Hiei returned Kurama look, but he didn't say anything. Kurama chuckled and shook his head. "You're such a chore, Hiei." _

_Hiei rolled his eyes, before sitting down on his bed, which had ended up being pushed a large amount of feet away from Kurama's bed; Childish, much? "I'd rather be a chore, then that asshole of a boyfriend of yours."_

_Kurama snickered mockingly. "Are you jealous Hiei?" _

_Hiei gave Kurama an irritated look before focusing his attention on his bed sheets. "I'm not jealous, Why the hell would I be jealous of him?" _

_His voice had been jittery, Kurama seemed to note it quickly and he a smirk came onto his face. He shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. He gets to do things with me that you only dream about." Kurama replied cockily as he began getting underneath the blanket. _

_Hiei sighed angrily, that had been the 64__th__ smart-ass comment that Kurama had squeezed out of his mouth today. Hiei knew exactly what he wanted to say back to him, but he knew it was dead wrong. He shouldn't, it would be bad and wrong. Too bad Hiei's conscience was paralyzed. "Oh, don't worry, that kind of stuff is the very last thing I would want to do with __**you."**__ Even in the darkness Hiei could see Kurama's lips part a little in surprise, he wanted to laugh at him but he kept himself under control for the sake of the argument. He saw Kurama open his mouth to say something and quickly interrupted. "You're just a tainted piece of meat as far as I'm concerned." _

_Kurama's jaw literally dropped to his lap and he let out a short high-pitched gasp. He expected him to come back with something twice as snappy; but he didn't. He didn't hear another word from Kurama, he just watched as Kurama's lips came together in a pout. Then he lay down and turned his back to Hiei. Not another word or sound was spoken. _

_---  
_

The issue wasn't resolved, in fact, not one issue that they'd argued about was resolved, all of their arguments ended with them changing the subject and arguing about that. Hiei wouldn't mind resolving each and every one of them if it meant Kurama was going to start speaking to him again. You see, as soon as they both had woken up that morning Hiei had muttered a short, '_Good morning' _to Kurama. Kurama decided to be a rude ass and not say anything back; he simply nodded at Hiei and walked straight into the bathroom.

He had been in there since then, and Hiei had been messing with that TV thing that was carelessly in their room. He flipped through the channels from the small box with a frown on his face. He didn't know how Kurama dealt with it, all of these annoying flashing lights for no (violent) reason.

Kurama exited the bathroom for the first time since he woke.

Hiei glanced back at him for a second before turning his attention back to the Television. He could see Kurama passing one idle glance his way before sitting down on his bed and compulsively brushing his hair. There was a long span on silence, which Hiei spent flipping channels and Kurama spent brushing and combing through his lengthy hair. But, of course, it was only the calm before the storm.

Kurama looked at Hiei with clear irritation on his face. Hiei noticed, but he didn't care to find out why. "Hiei, could you please stop. That television is starting to hurt my eyes." Kurama's said in a calm voice.

Hiei snickered, but didn't reply.

"Hiei, please! I'm in no mood for this!" The calmness was almost gone, his voice was tensing.

Hiei continued flipping through the channels.

Kurama sighed angrily, before placing his hands on his temples. "Hiei…" He murmured irritably. Hiei still didn't answer him, which only pissed Kurama off more. "Hiei!" Kurama yelled.

Hiei chuckled underneath his breath; Kurama was so easy to annoy. "What, fox?"

Kurama rolled his eyes and buried his face in his hands. Hiei could hear Kurama moaning and groaning out of anger, he didn't really mind though. "Maybe, we need to talk."

Hiei passed a quick glance to Kurama and smirked. "Talk about what?"

Kurama sighed with relief, at least Hiei was paying attention to him. "I think we should talk about the 'problems' that we're having."

"Problems?"

Kurama nodded. "Yes, you see, Hiei, I think it would be best if we spent some time apart."

Hiei flinched, but he quickly recomposed himself and frowned. "You make it sound like we're a couple."

Kurama laughed nervously. "Sorry… it's just-- we've been fighting so much lately. I'm beginning to think it's because we've been seeing too much of each other."

"What do you mean; we used to spend everyday together when I lived in Ningenkai." Hiei replied crossly.

"I know, but we never argued like this. In fact, we never argued at all."

Hiei rolled his eyes before starting to flip through the channels again. "Fox, what you fail to realize is that we aren't fighting because we're sick of being in the same space. We're fighting because you don't understand that when you come home from your dates with that wolf… _I_ don't want to hear about it."

"Why didn't you just say that?"

"I did!" Hiei yelled. Kurama could've sworn he'd woken everyone in the hotel up.

He opened his mouth to reply but he snapped it shut almost immediately. _He didn't know what to say._ Kurama removed himself from his bed, grabbed some clothes and stomped back into the bathroom. Hiei thought it was funny that Kurama was finally at a loss of words, not like last night when he didn't speak because he was hurt, today he was just stumped.

Kurama exited the bathroom a couple of minutes later; he was all dressed up to go on a date with his Luther. Hiei sneered; he shifted his crimson eyes to the side when he saw Kurama doing the same. Kurama flew past him with a frown on his face and got to the door, Hiei could hear it opening. When he didn't hear it close, he looked behind him to see Kurama with his hand on the doorknob. He was silent for a while, but his voice eventually escaped in a light brush of a tone.

"Hiei, when we get back home. Could you just leave me alone for a little while?"

Hiei shrugged and turned completely away from him. "Fine fox, if you want me to leave you alone then that's exactly what I'll do. Just don't expect to see me around anymore; I don't linger where I'm not wanted."

Kurama sighed exasperatedly before leaving the room, with a loud slam of the door.

Hiei was glad that he had left when he did, he didn't have to hear his heart breaking…

-----

Yay!!!

I got it done!

Finally.

The next chapter will be up much more promptly then this one.

Promise.


	11. Chapter 10

* * *

A/N: I explain it on my profile and later in this chapter why I've been so late. But in general, my computer did something to my Microsoft Word and I'm still working to get it back, but I had to type this on Notepad, which was pretty bad for me. So please, pardon me for any mistakes made inside of this chapter.

The Youkai Orpheus

Chapter 10- Love

Kurama pushed past what seemed like hundreds of people as he walked to the restaurant that Luther had asked him to meet him in. He felt his eyes beginning to prickle; he knew a bucket of painful tears were gearing up to escape. They were stabbing at his eyeballs, trying to pry away the barriers to their safe passage out. Kurama subconsciously shook his head, he refused to allow it. He wouldn't submit to weeping because of Hiei, he wasn't worth it. He would never be worth it. Kurama brushed his right eye with his sleeve, followed by his left one. He didn't want Hiei to leave him alone. He was always in the best moods when Hiei came to visit; it had been hard enough when Hiei decided that he wanted to stay in Makai. Now, he was not only going to be staying there, but he in the infrequent case that he did want to visit Ningenkai, Kurama wouldn't be able to see him. It was pretty sad to say the least. Once this mission is over, Kurama will be all alone. Hiei will be in Makai, Luther will be in Rekai jail, all of his friends will go on with their lives with their lovers, and his family is way too busy with each other to do anything but pester him to death. Where will that leave Kurama? All alone, only his garden to keep him company. Kurama exhaled lowly before continuing his walk. He wasn't afraid of being alone, he actually liked being alone, sometimes. And besides, he still had a couple more days to spend with one of his infatuation (i.e. Luther), since Hiei wasn't speaking to him anymore.

Kurama could see the outline of Luther's body from all of the yards that separated them. His body was┘ well it was unique, but at the same time, strangely familiar; tall and dark. So similar to what Kurama had been used to in his life as Youko. Kurama sighed, this wasn't the past anymore and now the only body he could think about was smaller and paler. Kurama forced a smile on his face as Luther approached him. It's not that he wasn't happy to see Luther, he actually liked Luther, he was nice and he was like a personal slave. He waited on Kurama's every hand and foot and worshiped the very ground he walked on. Much different from dealing with Hiei, he was so good at masking his feelings; plus he had a superiority complex that prevented him from ever doing sweet things like bowing to someones every whim.

Luther finally stood in front of Kurama and took both of his hands into his own. "Hello Kurama... ahh, it seems you get more beautiful every time I see you." Luther purred.

Luther then raised Kurama's hands to reach his lips and gave all ten of his fingers a light peck. Kurama merely smiled; he would usually pull away before allowing Luther to do something so degrading but he wasn't happy today and he kind of needed this. Luther pulled his face away from Kurama's hands and smiled lovingly at him.

Kurama couldn't help but wonder how it would look if Hiei looked at him that way. His smiled dropped into a frown at the thought of it and his gaze dropped to the concrete. Luther noticed immediately, so he placed his hand on Kurama's chin and pulled his head up so that he was facing him. Kurama tried his hardest to keep his eyes off of his date.

"What's wrong Kurama?"

Kurama strained a smile on his face and shook his head. "It's nothing Luther, I just didn't have the best morning."

Luther smiled solemnly at him before draping his arm over Kurama's neck and shoulders, and then leading him down the endless roads of Paris. "What happened, my pet?" Kurama didn't answer right away, he only sighed and raised one of his hands to hold the hand of Luther and pouted. "Hiei and I got in a fight last night... well, more accurately a lot of fights. Then this morning I told him to leave me alone and I really think he believed me. He probably doesn't want to be my friend anymore." Kurama knew he sounded whiny and pathetic, but he didn't really care. He deserved to be a bit whiny after what happened earlier. Luther literally burst into laughter, earning strange looks from people on the street and a temperamental look from Kurama. "Why are you laughing?" Kurama's voice was very stern.

"I'm sorry, my love. It's just... you have no idea how juvenile you sounded a moment ago." Kurama smiled sweetly and then shrugged.

"I apologize. I hate it when I get that way." Luther chuckled lightly before pulling Kurama a little closer. "I love it when you get that way. It makes you even more adorable then you already are."

Kurama bit down on his bottom lip to stop the huge smile that was fighting to grace his face. He really did like Luther, he was a sweetheart. Kurama was actually kind of sad to know that he was going to have to go to jail soon.

Luther continued smiling and he squeezed Kurama's shoulder. "Love; would you do me a favor?" Luther asked casually.

"What is it?"

"Pout for me..." Luther almost whispered. Kurama didn't understand at first, he actually scowled for a second before pouting. Luther smiled at him before leaning down and kissing Kurama's pouted lips. Kurama kissed him back, wrapping his thin arms around Luther's neck; Luther smirked into Kurama's lips before slyly 'slipping him the tongue'. Kurama pulled away almost immediately and smiled softly at Luther.

Luther smiled back at him and squeezed his hands. "I love you..." Luther's voice was silent, almost uncertain. He had defiantly lost that confidence that Kurama had grown accustomed to in the last month. It really flattered Kurama that someone like Luther would get nervous just because of him.

Kurama chuckled lightly and stood on his toes and gave the much taller Luther a tender kiss on the lips. "I... uh, I love you too." Kurama didn't actually mean that... he liked Luther just fine, but love was different and they'd only known each other for a month.

Luther followed up with a deep laugh and then he smashed his lip onto Kurama's. Kurama didn't kiss him back right away; he spent most of his time scanning the streets. He couldn't help it; it became a habit of his after Hiei had followed them that one time. Now, Kurama wished Hiei would just pop up and start spying on them again... at least that way he'd know that Hiei still cared.

A fairly short while later Luther pulled away and smiled with a hint of glee evident in his dark eyes. Kurama smiled back at him and stroked his cheek lightly. Luther lifted his hand and stroked Kurama's with his thumb, indirectly causing a spark of lust to shot through Kurama's veins. In response, Kurama's hand dropped from Luther's cheek to his chest and he began subconsciously rubbing it. When Kurama heard a moan escape Luther's lips, he quickly snatched his hand away and blushed. "Luther, would you like to take this somewhere else... somewhere more... private." Kurama couldn't help but ask him; it had been so long since he shared a sexual experience with anyone (kisses with Hiei doesn't count).

Luther's lips curved into a smirk, one that made Kurama's heart drop. Kurama then felt a couple of useless tugs on his hand and realized Luther wanted to get him off of this sidewalk; Kurama walked up as an indication that he wanted to go and Luther began pulling him, toward an alley. Kurama chuckled underneath his breath and lightly squeezed Luther's thick hand. When they got in the alley Kurama couldn't help but hastily look around at the dusty surroundings. He had never been one to do these kinds of things in an alley. But, he had never done it there before, in fact, sex as far as Ningenkai goes was non-existent; so, Kurama was fine with whatever he could get. As soon as he made it into the alley, Kurama's was pushed onto the wall and his lips were seized. Kurama let out a moan of pleasure and wrapped his arms around Luther's neck as Luther snaked his hand down the back of Kurama's knee. Kurama felt a small spark of lust engulf his body while Luther's hand slid higher up the back of Kurama's leg. Kurama felt bad already, he shouldn't be doing this with Luther. He should be doing it with the man he really loves. Kurama wanted to frown but he didn't, he actually couldn't; Luther was being much too fierce with his kissing. Poor Kurama was too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice his pants being unbuttoned and Luther's being pulled down.

Kurama's body moved up in order to stop the act, only for Luther to push it back toward the wall, only this time just barely giving him breathing room. Kurama snapped out of his thoughts at the sudden assault. What was he thinking? If Hiei saw what they were doing, he would... Kurama closed his eyes out of shame. Hiei would hate him if he saw what he was doing, last night was evidence enough. Hiei would hate him so much. Kurama really didn't want to stop, he was having fun, but Hiei hated him enough already, he couldn't stand for him to hate him much more.

Kurama softly pushed Luther away, he could tell Luther was already getting upset. His face displayed confusion, lust and anger all swirled, making his face do this scrunchy ugly thing that Kurama didn't find the least bit flattering. He tore his eyes away from Luther with haste and began to button his pants back up. When he was finished he raised his eyes to Luther once again and frowned.

"I apologize Luther, I just don't feel like doing this right now."

Kurama watched as Luther's face lost all of it's emotions, all but anger anyway. His voice was low when he decided to speak. "Why?"

"Well, this is an alley. It makes me feel dirty." Kurama muttered. He noticed Luther's expression softening a bit and inwardly congratulated himself on catching him on the hook. Now, all that's left is reeling him in. "I'm really sorry, maybe we can do this another time. When we're not in an alley."

Luther openly forced a smile onto his face and shook his head. "It's fine, nothing to worry about."

Kurama smiled at him and sighed. "I really am sorry. This won't happen again. Next time I won't interrupt, I promise." Kurama glanced down, noticing Luther's pants were halfway down his thighs. Luther smiled sheepishly and Kurama replied with a small chuckle before pulling Luther's pants up himself and buttoning his pants. When he was finished, Luther wrapped his arms around Kurama's neck and led him out of the alleyway.

The walk to the park was a long and painfully silent. Neither of them said a word, Kurama was distracted by his thoughts on Hiei and Luther was distracted by something rather uncomfortable still hiding out in his pants. When they did make it to the park, Kurama noticed Luther's face was a tensing a bit, he was going to ask about it but Luther had started smiling at him... very distracting. When they were seated, they did what they usually did, they drunk wine until they were felt all tingly.

Kurama glanced at Luther and smiled, Luther, who had been staring at him the whole time, smiled back at him. Kurama blushed and dropped his eyes back to the grass.

"I love you." Luther purred. Kurama looked back at him and mouthed the words 'I love you too'. Luther removed himself from his seat and walked to Kurama's seat. He knelled down beside it, latching his hands in Kurama's and smiling lovingly. Kurama grinned and looked away, the blush in his cheeks still refusing to leave. "Run away with me."

Kurama chuckled lightly and turned away from him; he knew it was a joke, it had to be. Kurama glanced back at Luther, only to see that he had a dead serious look on his face. Kurama's light smile was immediately replaced with a deep frown. "Excuse me?"

"You're obviously still upset about your friend and I know it'll make you feel better if I take you away. I will take you anywhere in the three words. Please, just come away with me. I'll show you the greatest time of your life." Luther groveled, then he lightly pecked Kurama's fingers.

"Luther, I'm flattered, really-- but leaving my home isn't an option right now. I'm still in school and my mother would worry." Kurama stuttered along.

Luther snickered and waved his hand. "We'll work around all of that. I really want you with me every day until the day I die."

Kurama sighed heavily before prying his hands out of Luther's and turning away. "I'm really sorry, I just can't."

Luther's face completely fell and his eyes dropped to the ground. Kurama bit down on his lip; great, now he was hurting Luther's feelings too. Luther glanced back up a couple of seconds later, and to Kurama's surprise his eyes were completely glazed over. Kurama barely suppressed his gasp, he didn't know that Luther would take it so seriously. When Luther decided to speak again, his voice was strained and sad. "Please, my love."

Kurama didn't answer. But, he could hear Luther sigh loudly and stand. He didn't walk away though, on the contrary, he stood in the one spot and stared at the top of Kurama's red head. He raised his eyes to look at his 'boyfriend', and his eyes were no longer glazed. In fact they had gotten much brighter, so bright that a chill visibly ran down Kurama's spine.

"Kurama, I would like to show you something." Luther's voice was lower than it had been before and bone-chillingly scary.

Kurama cursed himself for his bad judgment; Hiei had warned him that something like this was going to happen. Kurama reached toward his hair, tightly gripping the rose that was sure to be there. Luther seemed to realize what Kurama was doing but he didn't act on it. He merely looked solemnly at Kurama. "There is nothing for you to fear, my love."

Kurama carefully lowered his arm and studied Luther. He was no longer uneasy, or nervous, nor was he his normal confident, radiant self. There was something different about him, his bright eyes shone with a mix of rage and... insanity. Kurama suddenly had this overwhelming feeling of fright, was he going to make it out alive? Luther reached into his pocket and pulled out a fairly small box, probably the size of a fist. Regardless, though, Kurama could feel the power radiating off of it, it felt lovely, but at the same time, dangerous.

"What-- What is that?"

Luther smirked, then he proudly raised the small box into the air. "This, my dear, is the power to destroy the entire universe; all contained in this little box. Using this I'm going to take over all three worlds, no one will be able to defeat the wolf-tribe. You see, I'm going to be God and all of my followers will be my angels. My little cherub." Luther answered with a seductive tone of voice.

Kurama gulped. Finally, he had the information that he'd been waiting for. This is the weapon, the one Koenma had been telling them about. "What does it do?"

Luther glanced at him and smiled. He didn't answer Kurama's question right away, he just went on stroking the box.

"I loved this box more than anything..." Luther murmured. Kurama couldn't help but notice he used the past tense of the word 'Love'. "It was my reason and my life. But that was before I met you, my lovely. Now, I only have one thing I want... but this-- can help us get the life that we long for. It will be perfect, I'll give you whatever you want. I'll put you in the best clothes and I'll shower you with jewels and gold and-- and---" Luther stumbled along.

Kurama sighed before directing his attention to the ground beneath his feet, he didn't know what to say. He wished he was still committed to a life of crime, because getting swept off of his feet by a tall gorgeous guy only for him to give Kurama whatever he wants. Goodness, this guy was bringing out the worst in him. Kurama shifted his eyes from Luther to the box, the power inside of it was radiating so freely. It was almost addictive. Kurama longed to feel that power and it seemed Luther noticed.

"Go ahead, touch it darling." His voice sounded a bit sadistic and if Kurama had been using better judgment he would've said 'No!'. But he was still in the process of feeling bad for Luther and Kurama's sadness had been his downfall. He shyly placed his hand above the top and immediately felt a spark of power, well not only a spark, more of burst. The power was so strong and yet so different from anything he'd felt before. He studied the box carefully before lowering his hand a bit more over the top, the power was getting stronger and stronger as his hand got closer and closer.

Luther was still smirking that Sadist smirk that he was using so frequently. But, Kurama didn't notice he was still slowly being lured in by that powerful strength. Kurama placed his hand on top of the box and all the energy disappeared; Kurama didn't remove his hand as he ran through all of the things in his head that could have happened to make all of the energy go away. When he didn't figure out anything, he glared at Luther, whom was still smirking. "Luther-- what happ--" Kurama's voice faded. He couldn't speak, there was something wrong; his voice wasn't making sounds anymore. He snatched away from the box and clenched his throat, which was now throbbing, cutting off all breathing. Shortly afterward, his eyes began to get blurry. All of his energy was flowing to a remote region of his body he couldn't find it.

Soon enough, Kurama's whole body gave out and he collapsed onto the grass. Luther stared down at him, his smirk was gone. Now he was talking, Kurama couldn't hear him... but his lips were still moving and he didn't look very nice.

Right before Kurama lost consciousness he just barely heard Luther mutter:

"Sleep well, my love."

_______________________________________

"...Aww damn, the two of you are going through the motions again?" Yusuke nearly yelled.

Hiei gad pretty much ejected himself from his hotel room and spent his time in Yusuke's and Kuwabara's, they weren't there when he got there, of course, since they had decided that they were going to have a real vacation. When they did get back, though, they spent almost a whole hour figuring out what happened and when they did, it turned into an argument.

"What do you mean, again?" Hiei snarled.

"Well, so far this month I have heard about---" Kuwabara paused before counting on his fingers, which took a while. "Nineteen and a half arguments."

"A half? How was it a half?"

"Don't worry about it." Yusuke said nonchalantly.

Hiei huffed. "We have not argued that many times!"

Kuwabara was about to retort but stopped himself because of the look on Hiei's face. "Never mind..."

Yusuke snickered and turned to Kuwabara and shrugged. "I guess all of that sexual tension is finally getting to them, huh Kuwabara?"

"What the hell do you mean sexual tension?"

They both chuckled again. "I mean exactly what I said, Sex-ual Ten-si-on."

Hiei turned away from them and rested his eyes on the window. "The Fox doesn't think of me that way, he has that damn wolf now." Hiei's words were almost as bitter as his voice.

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy?" Kuwabara asked mockingly earning a slight chuckle from Yusuke. Hiei's hand snapped to his to where his katana should be, only to remember that he left it back in hotel room when he threw it in a fit of rage.

"I... am... not... jealous... of that... damn... wolf." Hiei's voice was strained an terrifying enough to make Yusuke and Kuwabara stop laughing for a bit.

After a moment of silence, Yusuke spoke up. "Fine Hiei, whatever, believe whatever the hell you wanna. But, the point is, you're jealous, Kurama's angry and nothing is going to change that because you're too stubborn."

"It's kind of sad actually. The two of you are probably never going to get off of this merry-go-round that you call a love life." Kuwabara teased, he pointed his finger at Hiei and chuckled menacingly.

Hiei didn't reply, he only kept his eyes on the window.

Yusuke sighed, before smiling lightly. "Are you shy, Hiei?"

Hiei's eyes snapped to Yusuke and he practically snarled, "I am not shy! If I wanted to take my relationship further with Kurama, I would have a long time ago. But I don't want to!"

"Why not?"

"Because he is seeing that damn wolf now. And I will not share my fox..." Hiei muttered. He was embarrassed to admit it but he was possessive and stingy... he hated sharing things that rightfully belonged to him.

"Why didn't you just ask Kurama to stop?" Kuwabara asked, a twinge of humor was still present in his voice.

Hiei rolled his eyes. "I did."

Yusuke shook his head and leaned over a bit closer in Hiei's direction. "No, not the way that you did it the last time. You have to give him real reasons, not those fake ones from before!"

Hiei looked insulted. "The reasons I gave were real!"

"No they weren't. Kurama told us all about it. All you said was,' Luther's going to kill you', 'You're in danger', 'That damn wolf is going to suck out your soul'." Yusuke began. "Do you really think Kurama is going to listen to all of that?"

Hiei simply sighed at how juvenile and stupid Yusuke made it all sound.

"You probably could have made Kurama stay if you gave him some convincing reasons like, 'Kurama, I jealous', 'Kurama I love you', 'Kurama, I want us to be a couple', and my personal favorite, 'Kurama I would rather have you on your back in my bed then out dating that damn wolf'. You know, the things that people usually say when they're in love." Yusuke said confidently.

Hiei made a face at Yusuke before looking down to his feet, he could feel his face warming up just thinking about the truth of Yusuke's statement... especially that one about Kurama being on his back in Hiei's bed thing. He didn't reply.

Yusuke smirked at Hiei's inability to answer. He and Kuwabara exchanged looks of triumph because they finally, kind of, got Hiei to admit his feelings for Kurama. Something that they'd been waiting to do for 2 years now.

After a couple if minutes of dead silence it looked like Hiei had figured out something snappy to say back, and when he did finally open his mouth to reply...

There was a soft knock on the door.

They all glanced at the door with collective frowns on their faces; Hiei stood up immediately in hopes that it might be Kurama. He walked up to the door and quickly opened it, only to see...

_Nothing_

He growled underneath his breath and looked both ways, whoever it was had obviously ran. Damn Ningens and their jokester ways. Hiei stepped back into the room and was about to close the door when he noticed a small white envelope laying on the floor near their door. He leaned down and picked it up before quickly opening it, luckily for him it wasn't in French or something like that, and he began reading.

Dear Spirit Detectives,

I am rather surprised that the lot of you haven't come to arrest me yet. To be completely honest, I have been looking forward to the moment where we could strike down another group of you people. But, that's beside the point, I want to keep this short and sweet. I have decided that it is time to take my dear Kurama away from you people and claim him as my own. I have him here with me and I do not plan on returning him to you, ever. I would recommend the three of you staying away from him and me, and leave us to live our lives as we see fit. You should go home and tell your boss that you have failed. But, if you do want him back we are located in a wooded area to the north of the train station, more information is located on the back. And hurry, you don't have much time.

Sincerely,

Your dear friend Luther

PS: By the way, Hiei. I'm really looking forward to seeing you again, me and my Kurama. He's been mumbling your name since we got here.

Hiei stared at the letter for a couple of seconds, trying his hardest to process what he had just read, before angrily tossing it to the ground and yelling,

"What the hell does he mean **his** Kurama!"

* * *

Alrighty, sorry for the 2 month delay. I kind of lost Microsoft Word... it's still lost.

But, I'm finding ways around that horrible fate.

Updates will defiantly, hopefully be quicker now.

And there might defiantly be a lot of grammar mistakes up there. Do forgive me, I have no spell check where I'm typing nowadays.


	12. Chapter 11

* * *

**Youkai Orpheus  
**

**Chapter 11- Captured  
**

Kurama felt himself becoming aware moments before he was able to open his eyes. His head was spinning rapidly in circles, he felt so physically drained and weak, he had never felt this way before. He didn't even feel this horrible when all of his energy had been locked away in his body, at least then he had a remote idea what had happened to him and he knew where it was, it was different now; he didn't know where the heck it was at this point. He couldn't feel anything, this feeling was similar to when he was in his mother's womb, when felt weak, fragile and vulnerable. But, he couldn't think about how he had gotten this way. He struggled to replay the images of the day in his head; his and Hiei's fight flashed by quickly, him almost having sex with Luther, Luther asking him to touch the box.

Kurama's eyes snapped open, Luther had done this. His Luther, the same one that worshiped the very ground that he walked on, had done something like this. Now, Kurama knew that Luther was a little unbalanced, maybe even obsessive and he defiantly knew that he was dangerous, but he said that he loved Kurama. Kurama groaned, his eye sight was still blurry; all he could see was that his surroundings were dark brown, even a little close to black. He could hear very low murmurs coming from the front of the room. He slowly moved his eyes to look at the small group of figures standing in what looked to be a circle. There was one who was tall and rather large, Kurama scrunched his eyes up but his eye sight couldn't improve. His eyes shifted to a smaller figure, probably the smallest of the bunch, he could not figure out who these people could be. Kurama wanted to scream at them and ask for help, but he was too afraid. His mind was telling him over and over to try to muster up some kind of voice strength to ask for help, but he knew who they were. Kurama glanced at the remaining figures and he could clearly pick Luther from the fray. Even blurred he could spot Luther, and Tan.

Kurama couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear, all of his enemies were standing a few feet in front of him, ready to kill him more than likely. He couldn't help but think about his mother, how would she feel when his friends had to tell her that he had been killed on his "Biology Field Trip". What about his brother, he would be devastated, they'd grown so close in the past year and that kid really looked up to him, even more than he looked up to his own father. His Father, Kazuyu, how would he feel? Despite the constant teasing, Kurama knew that his step-father did care about him and Kurama defiantly cared about his step-father. His whole family would be hurt; he wished he could stop their pain, unfortunately there's nothing he could do at this point, he was completely powerless.

How was Hiei going to feel? Kurama didn't even want to think about it. Sure, he and Hiei were friends and Kurama was in love with him. But, they were in a fight; but, then again they'd known each other for over 5 years, he was bound to feel something, right? Either way, this is Kurama's fault, he knew that if he'd just listened to Hiei in the first place none of this would have happened. Kurama tried to shift around and lift his limbs but they were awkwardly heavy; he could still move them but it really was a chore. He groaned and managed to sit up a bit.

He had attracted the attention of the entire group in front of him. The one who he assumed was Luther turned around first, he approached Kurama slowly and suavely and leaned down to his level. Kurama could see him a little better, especially that smug smirk of his.

Kurama flinched when he felt a hand stroke his face. He moaned and turned his face away from the icy hands belonging to his ex boyfriend; Kurama closed his eyes tightly and tried his hardest to turn away, while Luther simply laughed at him, that same laugh that he used to love and he now it made him sick to his stomach.

"I see you're finally awake, my love." Luther stroked Kurama's cheek a second time before running his finger's through Kurama's red hair. Kurama moaned, only this time not out of pleasure, only sadness. Luther's smirk widened and he tightened his grip on Kurama's hair, a light hiss of pain escaped Kurama's lips as he tried to pull away.

Luther turned around chuckling and faced who he assumed was Pace and said something to him, prompting him to turn and zoom out of there.

Kurama's blurred eyes shifted to meet Luther's, his frown deepened and his green eyes fell to the side. "W--Why--?" Kurama couldn't complete his sentence, his voice was strained and he was too weak.

Luther seemed to know what he was getting at because his smirk fell slightly and his grip loosened on Kurama's hair. "Why, you ask? My dear Kurama, you should know as well as anyone. You gave me no other choice, you wouldn't give me the one thing that I wanted the most.

Kurama narrowed his eyes. "--What--?"

"What did I want? Well, that's fairly simple, I only wanted you, every bit of you. But you wouldn't give yourself to me and that really hurts my darling. So, I decided that since you will not give me what I want by your own accord, I will have to take it by force." Kurama could hear the hostility mixed in with romance in Luther's voice; it scared him, Luther's mental stability was fairly questionable at this point.

Kurama's eyes fell on Luther's chest before raising them to meet Luther's bright eyes. He scowled and filled his eyes with all hate and rage that he could possibly muster up; Luther flinched but quickly recovered and smirked. He bent down a little lower and stroked the top of Kurama's head lovingly. Kurama tried jerking his head away, but it was futile, his grip on Kurama's head was too tight.

"Please don't look at me like that my darling. It does nothing for those beautiful green eyes of yours." Luther said in a way that sounded sweet... almost loving.

Kurama moaned angrily and choked out, "My friends--"

Luther's face hardened and he tightened his grip on Kurama's hair and yanked his scalp. Kurama was literally pulled by his hair, from the floor and to a couple of mere inches away from Luther's face. "Stop, please babe, for me; please, don't mention those rats that you call friends. They will all be dead soon anyway, so I'd suggest you forget about them now."

Kurama eyes widened at the mention of anything happening to them, his friends. Luther's frowning face softened and his completely let go of Kurama's hair. As a result, Kurama almost fell back to the floor, only for Luther to grab him up again and stroke the place on his head that he'd been yanking at.

"I'm sorry, my love, but there's nothing that I can do. If they would just at us live happily in peace maybe I would let them go. But, they're on their way now. They want to _save_ you from me." Luther chuckled before lowering Kurama's onto his back and running his hand all over his neck. "I can't wait until they get here. I'm going to enjoy killing each and every one of them personally. I'm going to make sure that all the competition for your heart is vaporized, and that is why I'm going to particularly enjoy taking care of your friend, what was his name, ah yes, Hiei."

Kurama's eyes widened as much as his weak body would possibly allow. He could already feel the tears prickling at his eyes, they were even more painful then they had been earlier. Kurama unfortunately, had no means of wiping them away, he tried closing his eyes but that only made it worse and the tears began to steadily fall from his eyes. He hated crying, he had not cried so much in his whole life as he had in the past month and if something happened to Hiei this crying thing wasn't going to get any better. Kurama was so distracted by the heaviness in his heart that he didn't notice Luther lifting his limp body off of the ground and placing his body in a much more comfortable area.

Luther began wiping the tears from Kurama's cheeks with his thumb; Kurama didn't even try to struggle, it would be useless.

Luther leaned close to Kurama's face and whispered. "Maybe you should get some, love."

Kurama shook his head, he glanced at Luther with forced softness in his eyes. "Please-- Luth-- Luther--- just let me--- I want to go--- home"

Luther's expression didn't change, he stood there with a calmness on his features... well, that's what Kurama thought. Before he knew it, he was grabbed by the front of his shirt and pulled into a sitting position. Kurama winced, but he didn't say anything, Luther seemed to peeved to be conversed with.

Kurama silently watched him with blurry eyes someone, who he still assumed was Pace, walked up to Luther with something in his hands. He handed the object to Luther and quickly backed away. Luther turned his attention back onto Kurama and leaned toward his sitting form. Kurama could clearly see the item in Luther's hand, it wasn't that box, thank goodness. It was a bottle, a bottle with a bright blue substance inside. Kurama felt like he briefly saw something moving inside of it, but he dismissed it as a trick of his bad eyes.

Luther dangled the bright drink in front of Kurama's face. Kurama pursed his lips together and turned his head away from Luther, while Luther worked at unscrewing the bottle. Kurama heard a popping noise, followed by a loud simmering noise; then he felt a hand pull him by the chin so that he was facing him. Luther placed his thumb on Kurama's bottom lip and pulled down on it.

Kurama reluctantly opened his mouth, hoping that it was some kind of poison, something that could kill him within seconds of it touching his tongue. He knew he didn't deserve to live. He was putting his friends through so much trouble, simply by hoping that he could get through to Luther. Now, they were probably all going to get killed. He felt so useless, he'd caused all of this and he can't even help them. Trying to make plans about what he could do was stupid, he could barely move, let alone save himself and all of his friends... and Hiei.

Luther smirked at Kurama's willingness to take whatever Luther wanted to give him. Luther placed his hand on Kurama's forehead and tipped his head back before placing the cold glass on his bottom lip and allowing the slimy substance to slide down Kurama's throat.

Kurama didn't fight it. He swallowed the oddly tasting drink with all of the obedience that he would show his mother and then he closed his eyes. At first he didn't feel anything, it felt like he'd just drank a cold glass of water or lemonade or something. But then, his insides started becoming cold, much colder than they'd ever felt before. It was soothing at first, but just as soon it started to get too cold, like it was a below 0 degrees snowy day in his stomach, as a result he began shaking immensely. They were getting colder, Kurama was almost sure he was turning into an Popsicle. Then, every organ in his torso was frozen solid. He raised his glassy eyes to look at Luther, who was smiling like a child at a candy store.

All of sudden, Kurama felt a horrible pain his stomach, almost like someone went into his stomach with a sledgehammer and broke his frozen insides into scattered pieces. It was a tremendous pain, it wasn't the worst pain that Kurama had ever experienced but it was in the top five for sure. His weak hands shot to his stomach and he let out strangled sounds, as the pain subsided and transformed into an extreme numbness. Kurama felt some of his strength coming back, it was slow, painfully slow, but it was coming back. Kurama sighed with relief, he was getting stronger, yet at the same time, he was still experiencing an extreme numbness and a lot of exhaustion. Before he fell into dreamland, Kurama looked at Luther again what he saw frightened him. Luther had lost his smile and he was now sporting a guilty frown. That didn't make sense, Kurama was getting his energy back, it was coming back to him, shouldn't Luther be happy? Kurama was about to ask him why he was frowning, but when he went to open his mouth he realized that he was sleeping.

* * *

Hiei shot through the tall trees, searching for any sign of the cabin that Luther had told them to look out for on the back of the letter. He knew there was a possibility that it wasn't here, that Luther had lied to them to lure them away. Hiei refused to believe that piece of perfect logic because if Luther had been lying that would mean Kurama was some place else and if that was the case, there were trillions of some place else's that he could be. Hiei glanced behind himself and saw the two idiots trailing way behind him. They were obviously out of breath and Hiei could sense that they wanted to take a break, but at the same time they were still just as determined as Hiei to find Kurama. This made Hiei rather thankful, he didn't want to do this on his own.

You see, the strangest still feeling was taking over his heart and he couldn't help but feel weak when he thought about what Kurama was going through. All of the worst possible scenarios have entered his mind, been pushed out and entered all over again. He couldn't help but think about that Luther hurting Kurama, possible torturing him. Or worse, he had probably taken him already, kidnapped him from his family and friends. It was a scary thought...

He stressed himself to the very bone to try and track Kurama, he couldn't smell him and he could not feel his energy, no matter how hard he concentrated. This was all getting scarier and scarier as the minutes without Kurama went by. What if they were to late? Kurama would be forced to go with that wolf, he would have to gallivant around with him and possibly even mate with him if it got to that point. Hiei was sure, that regardless of Kurama's morals and such, he would end up falling in love with Luther, that guy was too similar to his type.

Hiei sighed, there was no way he was going to let that happen. Gosh, he had warned Kurama about that blasted wolf, why was he so stubborn. He never listened, stupid fox! Unfortunately, trying to be angry with Kurama was not an option, his hear was weighing him down, it was filled with jealousy, worry and most important of all, love. Hiei knew it for the longest time that what he felt for Kurama was, in fact, love; he knew it all that time ago when he found at that he had a 'crush' on him. And he knew that if he had told Kurama that a long time ago, none of this would've happened. They would probably be rolling around naked in bed by now, well if Hiei was extremely lucky that would be what was happening.

Hiei angrily sighed, he was starting to get weary of searching, this feeling of lost love was bringing him down. He stopped in the trees and rested on one tree branch and he could see it. The Cabin, it was very small from this distance, it was like a dot maybe even less than a dot. But he could see it, it was maybe a mile or so away. This was great, he found him, he found Kurama. Yusuke and Kuwabara, having followed closely behind Hiei scanned the woods as well, they didn't see anything but they could tell that Hiei had. They all gave each other looks before Hiei hopped down from the tree and began walking in the direction of the cabin.

"This question isn't directed at you Kuwabara seeing as you don't think, but has anyone thought of a plan, yet?"

Kuwabara rolled his eyes and Yusuke shrugged. "I say we go in there and start blowing some people's heads off!"

Kuwabara nodded slowly, his face was more serious than Hiei had seen it in a long time, come to think of it, Yusuke's kind of was too. Hiei didn't really think anyone cared about Kurama as much as he did, it seemed he was dead wrong.

Hiei smirked and nodded. "Can I ask you two one favor?"

They shifted their glances to Hiei.

"Leave that damn wolf to me."

A smile appeared on Kuwabara's face and a smirk grew on Yusuke's.

"Aww damn, I was hoping I could get a crack at him."

Kuwabara chuckled. "Well, since we're calling people now... I want Grubby!"

Yusuke groaned before laughing a bit out loud. "Of course you'd pick the weakest one, Kuwabara." Yusuke exclaimed, Hiei snickered and Kuwabara shot them both a glare. "Anyways, I want that Vigor. Anyone who wants Judicious say, 'I'!"

When no one spoke up, Yusuke sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, Kuwabara and I will share him. And you--" Yusuke placed his hand on Hiei's shoulder and smiled. "Will save Kurama."

Hiei smirked, he had been planning on it. He was about to answer when something hit him. "Wait, what about Pace?"

Yusuke shrugged. "You can take him too."

Hiei groaned, he wasn't quite in the mood to deal with Pace. Pace was the one that put all of that tainted business in his head. Wait! Tainted... that's what Luther's going to do. He's going to taint Kurama, he was going to do something like touch him or humiliate him or maybe even... rape...

Hiei took off, whatever stupid tired feeling he had before had instantly disappeared and now he was off to find his fox before he is taken advantage of. "I. Am. Going. To. Kill. That. Wolf!" Hiei yelled harshly.

"You're not doing anything to our master..." Hiei heard a voice from the trees. He immediately stopped and stood in one place as he searched the trees, not seeing anyone around. He could feel their presence but their was no one in plain sight. Hiei began walking again, only this time very cautiously. All of a sudden three figures dropped a few yards in front of him. Hiei recognized them almost immediately, they were those three waiters or whatever that Luther dragged along with him during his dates with Kurama. Just Great! Hiei slapped his hand onto his forehead and groaned. Hiei slid his hand off of his forehead and down to his side, he didn't have time for this. That Wolf was probably accosting his fox and these three were playing.

"You will not pass, demon!"

Hiei was about to pull out his katana and chop these demons into messes before, unfortunately, his partners had to catch up.

"What's going on Hiei?" Kuwabara asked.

Hiei didn't answer, he simply pointed at the three nuisances in front of him. Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped at Hiei's side.

"Who the hell are they?"

Hiei opened his mouth to answer, but they decided it would be easier to introduce themselves.

"We are the loyal followers of the Epic Wolf Tribe!" Kuwabara shuttered.

"We are loyal students of our powerful demon leader, Luther." Hiei growled.

"And we challenge you!" Yusuke chuckled.

* * *

There you go, I know this is a bit short but the next chapter will be much longer, it's the big fight chapter scene thingy. I can't wait!

Oh, and I apologize for the many grammar mistakes.


	13. Chapter 12

* * *

**Youkai Orpheus**

**Chapter 12- The Battle**

**

* * *

  
**

After those words were uttered, Yusuke was damn near on the floor rolling around laughing. Kuwabara angrily sighing and trying to see through the trees for any other demons. Hiei, on the other hand wasn't in the joking mood nor was he nervous about any other demons, he was going to kill there guys for delaying him. Hiei's fingers were gripping tightly onto his katana, oh yeah, they were going to die.

Yusuke pried himself from the ground and wiped a tear from the side of his eye. He fought his laughter but that didn't do anything to his smile.

"You three have to be kidding me."

The three men looked offended, but they quickly replaced their mood with cockiness; that same kind that Luther flaunted. "Mock us if you will, but we will be the ones laughing when you all lay on the ground dead."

Hiei scowled and took s couple of angry steps toward the trio, causing them to take a couple of steps back.

"I'm in no mood for this..." Hiei said through clenched teeth.

The three demons cringed at his tone but they quickly composed themselves and polished their fighting stances. Hiei rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Thoughts of Kurama were still running through his mind, what was happening to him now? Was he being hurt? Was that Luther kissing him?... Touching him?... Or was he...? Hiei shook the thoughts out of his head, he had to save him before something bad happened.

He opened his eyes and glared at the weak villains that stood in front of him. Their energy was absolutely pathetic, this fight wasn't going to take too long, maybe less than a minute. But Hiei didn't have that kind of time. He had to get to Kurama... he had something to tell him.

"Alright, alright.. I understand, you guys are looking for a fight. That's totally acceptable, but... uh, we don't have time." Kuwabara reasoned.

The demons snickered. "We don't care about your time!"

"Alright, it's your funeral."

Hiei didn't pay attention to anything that was being said. His eyes were glued on the faint outline of the trees, behind them was Kurama and these guys were stalling for time like a bunch of spineless humans. Hiei fingers gripped onto his katana even tighter, he hadn't taken it out yet but he was damn near that point, it was just where it always was just like any regular day or regular fight. Hiei knew that wasn't the case, for the first time ever he was fighting to save Kurama, the love of his life, the cream of his crop, the light in his heart. And if he wasn't able to do that, today would not be a great day for anyone involved.

The trio stod their ground with their backs arched and their confidence evident. Hiei nodded a bit randomly before smirking. "Alright, let's get started."

Within seconds of the fight starting, all three of the demons lay on the ground their eyes were still open, in pieces, dead. Hiei hadn't noticed what he'd done until he spotted the red substances on his sword. He chuckled lightly and turned around to his colleagues, whom were both equally shocked at what they'd just seen... or didn't see.

Hiei gave them a quizzical look before shrugging and wiping the blood off on his side. "Come on, we don't have time for gawking at dead bodies," Hiei began to walk slowly over the bodies and through the trees, when he didn't heat footsteps behind him he turned around to see Yusuke and Kuwabara staring at the back of his head. Hiei smirked. "Idiots,"

* * *

Kurama was awakened by the whiff of a horrible smell in his nose. He didn't open his eyes, he was afraid that his sight would be completely gone. Not that he couldn't live without his eyes, he actually could. But he couldn't bare it if his last sight of Hiei was one of anger and pain. Kurama tried to find a more comfortable position, but that's when he realized that he wasn't in a comfortable spot anymore. It felt like he was in a tin chair; Kurama felt a lump come up in his throat and bent over and began to cough, that smell was really heavy.

He didn't stop until he heard someone laughing above him.

Kurama peeled his eyes open, his eye sight was better, much better, probably even sharper than it had been before. His eyes focused on his surroundings. He was in a wooden room, everything was wood and bricks, it looked absolutely disgusting and not of Kurama's tastes at all; in addition to that the entire room was filled with boxes, most of which were empty. Kurama tried to twist his body around, only to find that that was difficult as well.

He groaned loudly, twisting himself around uncomfortably in the chair. How did he end up here? He remembered everything about Luther and Hiei and that strange blue substance...

Kurama's head shot upand the first thing he saw was the reason for those disgusting smells. It was Grubby, Luther's dear friend, who else would it be? Kurama made a face before turning his attention away from him, hoping to limp the smell. Unfortunately, it didn't and Kurama couldn't help but feel a little light-headed.

"You're awake!" Grubby said in that voice that Kurama found absolutely annoying.

Kurama turned and scowled. "Did you expect me to sleep all day?" Kurama asked, his voice was obviously fighting the tenseness.

Grubby laughed an oddly powerful laugh before placing his hand on the back of Kurama's chair. "No, I expected your friends to be dead by now."

Kurama's green eyes widened, he had almost forgotten his friends. They were in danger! Kurama fully intended to unbind his hands, beat this guy within an inch of his life and demand him to tell where his friends are. But, he still felt dangerously weak. Kurama struggled underneath the binds, much to the entertainment of his smelly counter-part. It was no use, he was stuck. His eyes frantically scanned the land hoping to find something that could be of some service, but there was nothing; not one thing that could help him escape.

Kurama sighed in defeat before focusing his sad eyes on his current captor, and he noticed something- Grubby's eyes were on him as well and his expression held something that Kurama had seen too many times not to recognize-- Desire. He felt a bit of relief wash over him. This was going to be too easy. Kurama draped one of his legs over the other and did his best to sit up straight in the chair before speaking.

"Grubby, why do you work for Luther?" Kurama asked him as he leaned back in the chair casually.

Grubby didn't look like he understood so Kurama sighed the kind of sigh that was only fit for a theater production and continued. "Are you his lackey?"

Grubby looked offended. "I'm not a lackey! I don't know what you're talking about." Grubby grumbled.

Kurama smiled, he was already getting under his skin. "I apologize if I offended you. But, I still don't fully understand. Do you just enjoy taking orders?"

Grubby growled underneath his breath before turning his around to door. Kurama chuckled lightly and turned his attention to his unbound legs.

"I would hate taking orders from anyone who doesn't reward me properly." Kurama could hear Grubby's heavy breathing getting even heavier and he smirked.

Grubby didn't reply immediately, but when he did his voice sounded unsure and choppy. "I am rewarded, I get all the food I want, I get treasures, and I get to kill humans to my hearts content."

Kurama bit down on his bottom lip. He absolutely hated it when demons made threats regarding humans. Kurama peered at the back of Grubby's dirty head. "Well, in my opinion, those aren't real rewards. You're entitled to those things for all you're hard work. You deserve rewards, real ones. The kinds that I usually give my friends."

Kurama smiled as innocently at the suddenly interested look on Grubby's face. "Whenever my friends do things that make me happy I find ways to make them really happy." Kurama said seductively. He knew he was lying through his teeth, but if it would convince Grubby that he had a chance to get laid some how.

Grubby squinted eyes gleamed and he was basically radiating lust at this point. "Would you like to know what I do with my dear friends?"

Grubby was practically drooling in anticipation. His head nodded frantically, probably on it's own.

Kurama raised his eyebrows along with his smile and shrugged. Then he unhooked his legs from each other and spread them wide open, stretching the tight pants over his upper thighs. "I think you can pretty much guess." Kurama purred. He knew that if he'd been telling someone like Hiei or Luther this lie, they would see right through it. Despite his image, sex wasn't much of a common thing with him, not now anyways.

Grubby's drool spilled down his chin and quite unfashionably onto his shirt. Kurama inwardly grimaced at the thought of doing anything own remotely sexual with that guy, unfortunately, though, there were the sacrifices that one has to make.

"So, Grubs, would you like to be my friend?"

Grubby's wide open mouth literally snapped shut and nodded. Kurama watched as Grubby's bright eyes ran up and down his legs; he could practically see his mind playing through all of the dirty things that he wanted to do. Kurama began to slowly open and close his legs, getting admiring looks from his new squeeze.

"All you have to do is untie me and I promise you can get whatever you want."

After those words escaped Kurama's lips, Grubby was in front of the chair, untying him from the front. Unfortunately for Kurama, he was forced to breath in Grubby's putrid scent. But, he dealt with it; he had to get out of here some how. Kurama smirked when he found his hands loosening up a bit. Thank goodness, he was going to go and see his friends. He missed them all so much and now he was finally going to see them again. When Kurama's hands were free his first thought was to grab his rose and hope for the best. But he was way too weak, if he tried to do something he would end up being reduced back to what he had been before he'd woken up. His powers were still rejuvenating and he was going to give it as much time as he possibly could. Kurama stretched his arms out, loving the relief of no longer being bound. When he looked up he saw that Grubby was looking at him very strangely, almost like he was expecting something.

Kurama mustered up the best smile that he could in the situation and patted Grubby on the shoulder. "Thank you so much, we should get going." Kurama tried to get up, only to be roughly pushed back down onto the chair.

"Well, what about my reward?" Grubby asked impatiently. He was practically bouncing up and down out of anticipation. Kurama figured he must not have gotten laid in a while. Poor guy, Kurama could feel his pain.

"You couldn't possibly think we'd do it in here for someone to walk in on us. Do you understand what Luther would do to you if he saw you having sex with his lover?"

Grubby frowned and mumbled as short, "You got a point there." He backed away from the chair. Kurama tried his hand at getting up again but he was promptly pushed back down.

"What now?"

"Couldn't you just give me something to hold me over until we do find some place that's private?"

Kurama glared at him. This guy has got to be kidding him! Kurama knew he didn't have too much time to waste, his friends were probably about to walk into a trap. He had to warn them about that box, if he didn't want them to be killed. He couldn't let something like that happen, he was going to have to do it. He was going to have to kiss Grubby. Kurama shut his eyes up tight before crashing his lips onto Grubby's. His breath smelled like rotten fruit and burnt toast, Kurama swore he was going to pass out from the smell alone; Grubby's kisses were much different from Luther's or Hiei's. Luther's kisses were dominating and at the same time gentle and, surprisingly, full of lust; Hiei's weren't much different, only lust was never the only thing on his mind, there was a little more love involved. Grubby's kisses were sloppy and rough, a terrible combination. His dirty tongue ran all over Kurama's teeth and lips, for a moment it even touched the tip of his nose. Kurama had been through bad kisses before, but never, never ever, had he suffered through something this brutal. It got to the point where Kurama didn't even bother kissing him back, he just sat back and let this man do his dirty work.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Grubby?" A deep voice came from the doorway. Kurama knew without even looking that it was Luther, and by the sounds of it. He was pissed. "Are you enjoying kissing my property?"

Kurama opened his eyes when he was freed from his smelly prison. He saw Grubby looking like a bruised puppy, he was visibly shaking and Kurama couldn't blame him; Luther looked like he was about to commit bloody murder. In fact, it reminded Kurama of the looks Hiei used to make back in the day when Kurama attracted the attention of some of the demons in Makai and Ningenkai, particularly those days with Karasu and Yomi.

"Grubby, what did I tell you about touching things that do not belong to you." Luther voice was strained and very scary.

Grubby didn't answer, his eyes just fell to his toes, or his stomach seeing as he can't see his toes. Kurama frowned, he kind of felt bad for Grubby, he hadn't meant to get him in trouble. He just wanted to get to his friends and make sure they were okay.

"You disappoint me Grubby, and I'm sure you know what happens to my friends when they disappoint me." Luther's hand was hidden behind his cloak, something that he was more than likely wearing to hide something; Kurama could only hope that it wasn't that stupid box again. He watched with resignation as Grubby knelled onto the ground, and bowed his head. A few tears escaped his eyes and fell onto the floor, splashing against the wooden tiles beneath him.

The sounds that Kurama heard next would burn into Kurama's memory for the rest of his life. The pitter-patter of the tears falling into the small puddle below Grubby's head, Luther's sword coming unsheathed and the sickening sound of it connecting with Grubby's neck and slicing through his bone. And then the terrible rolling of a discarded head. Kurama closed his eyes, it's not like he'd never seen a dead body before, he was, in fact, accustomed to it. But he could not help but feel a sense of fear regarding Luther. He must have known this Grubby for years, and he just killed him for someone that he's only known for a month.

When Kurama opened his eyes he saw that Luther was still there, he was cleaning the blood off of his sword with his hand, his face was calm. Kurama felt so much hate bubble up in his stomach. This guy had no grief or remorse for what he'd just done, to his very own friend. Kurama frowned and looked down at the blood beneath his feet, there was so much and it was kind of filling up his shoes. He couldn't bare to look at the body, he was disgusted enough already. Kurama closed his eyes and mentally ran through his options. He could tell Luther the truth and hope for the best, but telling the truth wasn't going to bring Grubby back and it wasn't going to save his own life. He could try to run past Luther and make an escape, but that probably won't work especially not while Luther had that sharp little sword in his hand. Or he could try to seduce Luther like he'd almost done with Grubby and when he was completely indisposed he could make a run for it. The only problem was, he did not want to have sex with Luther so that wasn't going to work. Last option, he could say nothing... that sounded good.

Luther took notice of Kurama's silence after he'd put his sword away and smiled at him, even though he couldn't see it. "I'm sorry you had to see that my love. I have a very low tolerance for people who don't follow basic directions." Luther said with a hint of humor in his voice, just enough to make Kurama feel disgusted.

Kurama didn't answer. He couldn't bare to speak to Luther after all of the mean things that he'd done to his friend!

When he didn't speak up, Luther continued speaking. "Did you see my sword? It's called a Jian, I got it from China almost 2000 years ago. It's beautiful isn't it? Do you like it, my darling?"

Kurama yet again, didn't reply, the guilt was starting to get to him. Grubby was dead, he was dead for the dumbest reason of all. Not because of he murders humans and now because he was evil. But, because he was kissing the bosses 'darling'.

"Kurama, are you angry with me?"

Kurama opened his eyes and looked at Luther, displaying all anger and hate. Luther frowned and turned away from him.

"Well, I'd suggest you stop it immediately. I refuse to tolerate any attitudes when we leave." Luther snapped.

Kurama angrily stood and glared at Luther. "I am not going anywhere with you!"

Luther looked at Kurama with shock evident in his eyes. He patiently walked to Kurama, easily towering over him. "What has gotten into you today?"

Kurama sighed and turned his gaze away from Luther. "I hate you!"

Kurama could tell by the look on Luther's face that he was hurt by the statement. His eyes softened and he glanced to his side as well. "You don't mean that."

Kurama shot him a dirty look. "Yes I do."

"But you've already said you love me."

"I lied!"

Kurama was prepared for the momentary silence that came after that greeted him after that comment. But, he hadn't been prepared for the hard fist that had connected with his eye. Kurama's head literally snapped in the other direction because of the power contained in that punch and he was almost sure that Luther had drawn blood from his eye.

To say that Kurama had been shocked by the hit would be an understatement; he had always been sure that Luther wouldn't get violent with him, at least not past the yanking hair and rough make-out sessions. Obviously, Luther was crazier than originally planned.

He couldn't bare to look at him anymore, now he officially hated him. His first thought was to muscle up some tears and try his hardest to buy some sympathy from his estranged boyfriend, but he did not want to appear as a bruised puppy in front of _him,_ he had too much pride for that. Or, he could simply submit and take a seat, which was just as embarrassing as his last idea. Then, there was always the idea of trying to run, this was still pretty dangerous no matter what Luther had in his hand. Kurama sighed, every possible option sucked just as bad as all of his first options did. Kurama bit down on his bottom lip, you know what, for once he was just going to do what his heart was telling him to do, not his mind. So, Kurama swung his arm back up and effectively half scratched half slapped Luther's face as hard as possible on the cheek.

Luther didn't seem to understand the reaction, and neither did Kurama. Luther raised his hand to touch his face, tracing his hand over the small lone of blood that had been made from Kurama scratching his cheek. Luther's face twisted into an angry scowl, his nose flared up and his teeth clenched. Kurama backed up slightly, he was almost sure he was about to suffer the same fate as the dead man underneath his feet. Luther's hand snapped to his sword, and he left it there for a while before he collected himself and reluctantly retract his hand from his waist. He glared at Kurama for a while, the next couple of minutes were so awkward and eerily silent that Kurama thought Luther was going to reach for his sword again and go for the strike.

Out of nowhere, Luther charged at Kurama and Kurama, not expecting that and having no time to get away, was grabbed by his throat in a crushing grip and was crashed back onto his chair. Kurama did all that he could to move Luther's hand but it seemed that no matter what he did his grip only kept tightening.

Kurama let out a couple of short hoarse cries as his throat was smashed by the hard hands of this man. He whined when he felt a very familiar warm substance come up from his throat and drip down his mouth. Luther's grip was too strong, did he even realize that he was choking the life out of his supposed 'love'? Kurama was certain Luther was trying to kill him, why wouldn't he? Kurama was being so rebellious. His eyes were beginning to drop; breathing was no longer an option and he was getting a headache. And before he knew it, he was unconscious again.

* * *

When the arrived at the cabin they all expected to be jumped immediately. But, the area surrounding them was as still as the now dark sky above their heads. Hiei felt a little uneasy, he knew it was a trap, it was always a trap, that made it all harder. He wanted to rush in there and save Kurama, but if they jumped them from behind then that would delay everything. On the other hand, walking was just as hazardous seeing as they could get them from above, which will delay everything even more. Hiei pulled his weapon out, he had to be prepared for anything that happened between them; Yusuke and Kuwabara followed his actions.

Hiei and the gang slowly, very slowly, walked toward the cabin. Hiei was still very much stuck in his thoughts, he was so worried; not for himself, but for Kurama. He couldn't imagine what was happening to him? That wolf tribe probably had all kinds torture toys stacked away, they were sadistic creeps. And what about that coveted mystery weapon, what is that was a torture weapon? That made perfect sense, how else was that guy able to take down so many people, he was torturing them to death. What if that weapon did stuff like rip your skin off? What if it made you explode from the inside out? What if... what if it could be used as a sex toy?

Hiei's grip tightened on his katana as endless thoughts of that wolf raping his fox ran through his mind. Kurama tied up to a bed with his eyes closed and his mouth hanging open; Luther on top of him touching him in places that weren't supposed to be touched by anyone but Hiei and--- He couldn't think about it anymore. It was making him physically ill. Well, even though the thought of Kurama tied up to a bed was pretty hot.

Hiei picked up his pace, they were getting closer. They were within a few meters of the doorway and Hiei was beginning to feel queasy,this was too strange, Usually someone would jump out and yell "Got ya!" by now. This little wolf tribe was crafty; he had to do something that they wouldn't be expecting. Hiei broke into a run, followed closely by his two teammates, both of which found it smart to follow after Hiei in this mission. When they were only a few yards away from that much sought after door, the inevitable happened. Two of the wolf demons removed themselves from the sides of the first around them and ran in front of the door. Hiei recognized them as Judicious and Vigor. The entire crew backed up a bit, bringing as much space between the two rival teams as they possibly could. Neither of the wolf demons said anything, Hiei could tell that the only talkative ones in the group were the smooth-talking Luther and the big mouth Pace.

The two demons prepared themselves, taking out their miscellaneous weapons and getting in their fighting stances and such. Team number two spent their rime watching and waiting, all of them searching their minds for some kind of a plan to get Kurama out of there as quickly as possible! Yusuke, surprisingly, was the first one.

"I got an idea..." Hiei and Kuwabara turned their attention to him with their eyes, trying not to hint to the small group over there that they were conspiring. "Hiei, Kuwabara and me are going to try to get them as far away from the door as possible and when you think you have enough room, you rush in and get Kurama. I know there are at least three other demons in there, but I'm sure you can handle it until we get in there, alright?"

Hiei nodded, as long as he was going to get to Kurama he was fine with whatever stupid plan Yusuke came up with. After a couple of seconds, Kuwabara nodded as well and the two of them took a couple of offensive steps forward while Hiei took a couple of steps back. The fight between the four warriors started immediately; they were everywhere at once and if Hiei had been a slow human like Kuwabara he probably wouldn't have seen it. Yusuke and Kuwabara were collectively taking the defensive side of the fight; they were trying to get them as far away from the door as possible. As soon as they succeeded, Hiei ran as fast as he could to the door and slipped in.

From the outside the cabin looked much smaller than it actually was. It was pretty spacious and cozy by the looks of it, a fire burning in the fireplace and coats hung on a stand, it looked like a little families vacation spot. The one thing Hiei did note, though, was the many many closets in the place. Kurama could be in any of them, but an enemy could also be hiding out in one as well. Hiei glanced around, there were stairs, he was sure that if Kurama was anywhere, he'd be up there.

Hiei ran up the stairs, no longer in the mood for being patient or careful; his fox was in here somewhere and he was going to find him.

There weren't many rooms on the second for, or as many closets, There were two rooms and Hiei knew that Kurama was in one of them, he could feel his presence. Hiei didn't know how to choose. What if he choose the wrong one and came face to face with an enemy? His fox's rescue would have to be delayed, he didn't want a delay. He wanted Kurama.

Hiei choose the door to the right, it wasn't for a real reason this time; Kurama's presence wasn't any stronger in any of the doors. He just choose the right door, hoping that it would be the "right" door.

Hiei snatched open the door and at first all he saw was a large room filled with cardboard boxes. He was about to turn around when he saw a very familiar mop of red hair. It was him, it was Kurama! He was on chair, his head was hanging off of the tip of it and his legs were moved lazily to the side. Hiei's eyes widened, what if he was dead? What if that Luther had accidentally killed him? Hiei ran toward the chair, kicking over any box that was in his way.

When he was close enough Hiei began to observe Kurama carefully. There were large red marks all over his neck, they obviously came from some kind of terrible grip on his neck. He noticed the small line of blood that ran from his lip, down to his chin and because his head was bent back now, it had ran into his hair. The last thing he observed was the horrible red, soon to be purple, eye that he was sporting now. Hiei couldn't suppress the growl that escaped his lips.

"What the hell did he do to you?" Hiei asked no one out loud. Hiei was placed his hand on Kurama shoulder and was about to shake Kurama awake when he heard the voice that he hated the most behind him.

"Hiei... it's been a while..." Luther's voice rang eerily into Hiei's ears. Hiei growled again before slowly turning around to face his sworn enemy, his arch nemesis, his rival for the love of Kurama, Luther. Hiei couldn't hide the anger in his eyes and he didn't want to, he wanted that wolf to know exactly what he was going to deal with.

Luther chuckled at the evil eye he was receiving and walked closer to the angry demon and the indisposed Kurama. "Are you angry with me, too?"

Hiei didn't answer him, he refused to play there frivolous games with Luther. All he wanted to do was get Kurama out of there as soon as possible... well, that and to kill Luther.

Luther's easy smile dropped to a frown and he tensed when he noticed Hiei's hand on Kurama's shoulder. Luther stepped up a bit more. "Would you mind taking your hands off of my lover?"

Hiei felt his stomach jolt with jealousy and rage; but he hid it with a comical scoff. "Your lover? I'd suggest you get your head straight soon because Kurama is mine, and only mine."

Luther didn't show it but Hiei knew that he wasn't happy with his last comment. "Oh really? Do you honestly think someone like Kurama would be interested in someone like you except for me? Look at you, you might have a cute face but you're just barely tall enough to reach by ribcage..." Luther stopped for a second to confirm this and then nodded to himself. "And from what I've heard you have a terrible attitude and you're not romantic in the least, well, at least this is what Kurama told me.

Hiei grumbled, he was truly offended, what the wolf said wasn't exactly false. Kurama had always been used to the finer things and finer people, he was one of those people who prided themselves on romance, giving it and receiving it. Hiei hated romance, he felt that all of the extra effort just to have sex wasn't needed if there was already a connection between two people. And more than likely Kurama thought much differently. Hiei glared at Luther with a very deep frown on his face, while Luther chuckled and shrugged.

"That might be true, but I'm sure Kurama doesn't want a nut-job like you."

Luther looked offended at first, but he quickly replaced that with an amused grin. "We shall see."

Hiei smirked and eased his hand to where his katana was. "Are we going to fight or what?"

Luther's grin widened and he nodded. "I'm ready when you are."

Hiei shrugged and began to slowly approach the wolf, very very slowly. Luther just stood there with his hands hidden behind his cloak and his head bowed slightly. Hiei had no idea how to start it up, he didn't want to start it up. Luther was still carrying that weapon, and whatever it was it was strong enough to take down some of Koenma's men. Hiei was going to have to be very careful, Hiei took a couple more cautionary steps toward the man. What could he do? Luther looked like he was expecting anything that Hiei could do, he was so relaxed. He couldn't risk losing though, that wolf was liable to do anything to Kurama if he let him get away.

Hiei passes a glance at his battered and beaten fox and suddenly a new sense of motivation filled his gut and he was swept up. He ran as quickly as he could toward his opponent, Luther, whom stood still, much to Hiei's confusion. When Hiei was close enough to Luther, he unsheathed his katana and attempted a quick slash at Luther's stomach. Unfortunately, he was blocked by another sword that Luther had effectively hidden. Hiei wasn't stunned, he knew Luther was going to do something. Now, he knew what he was packing. Luther raised his sword and chuckled.

"You fool, did you truly believe I was unarmed?"

Hiei lunged himself forward again, slashing once with his katana, to no effect. Luther had dodged it, again. Damn. Hiei growled, he had to do something clever; he refused to allow this bastard to beat him, he had to think of something. While Hiei was deep in thought he just barely caught Luther's Jian going for his stomach. Thanks to his inattentiveness, Hiei almost lost half of his stomach, luckily he only received a small scratch. Hiei jumped backward a couple of paces only to see Luther coming toward him with that smug look on his face. Hiei dodged the attack without much trouble. Then, he raised the back end of his sword again to block another incoming attack from Luther.

This guy was pretty good, much better than Hiei had originally thought. If he was going to beat him he was going to need zero distractions. That was the point where the fight shifted from the slow offensive-defensive switches to a much speedier one. Now, the fight was simply a series of clanks and slashes with swords. Neither of the men decided to use any of their other capabilities as demons. This fight was no longer about killing the other person, or about good and evil, hell, it probably wasn't even about love anymore. It was about pride, who was really the better man. It was a competition, not a battle.

Hiei could tell that Luther was letting his guard down, his movements and smugness said it all. And in no time at all, he found an opening and he was going for it. He stretched his sword back and prepared himself to stab Luther right in the chest; but then he heard a sound. It was low and strangled, but he knew what it was, his eyes quickly turned to Kurama, who, by the looks of it, was coming to. Hiei would've dashed over there and helped him out of that chair, but he was in the middle of a fight. Hiei's focus on Kurama seemed to give Luther just enough breathing room to to go in for a strike. Hiei did his best to jump backwards again but that only gave Luther an opening on his leg. Hiei screamed out in pain when that jian connected with his lower leg, it wasn't that it was the most painful experience in the world or anything, it was just a shock. Hiei stumbled back on his one good leg, and the sharp contrast between the good leg and the bad leg caused him to lose his footing.

Luther raised his swords to go for a stab at Hiei's chest, and Hiei did his best to raise his sword and block the stabbing action, but he couldn't figure out where Luther was actually aiming. So, Hiei's decided that he was going to try and dodge, it was pretty hard to pull this off with an injured leg but he did manage to get out of the way. Hiei turned around to where Luther had been before, only to see that he'd moved. Hiei wasted no time assessing the situation and he ran ahead and turned around, very happy to see that Luther was a good couple of paces away from him. He raised his sword yet again and ran toward Luther with death on his mind. Unfortunately, he didn't come in contact with the flesh and bone that he had originally been hoping for.

Hiei grumbled before turning back around and saw Luther coming at him for the millionth time without Hiei noticing it. Goodness, there was something about this area, he was distracted, less alert and for some reason he felt a little weaker. Hiei didn't bother raising his sword this time, it would be useless. Luther was going to deliver another blow to one of his weak limbs whether he liked it or not. The sword was coming in the direction of the arm that he used his sword with, goodness no!

Hiei was about to make a dive for it, but suddenly one of those large brown boxes hit Luther's sword, completely stunning him and throwing him a little off balance. Hiei knew without glancing over that it was Kurama, Mr. I'm going to be of some use whether I have arms or not. Luther looked to his left and seemed pretty shocked by the whole thing, their was an indisputable look of betrayal and grief written on his face. Hiei didn't take any time to pity the poor fool, he swung his sword awkwardly at Luther. He hit his arm. Hard. The blow was so strong that Luther seemed to leave all motion in his arm. His sword dropped to ground and he stumbled back with his bleeding arm dripping all over the ground.

Hiei smirked, this was his chance. This was going to be the end of that damn wolf, forever. Hiei made a couple of teasing slashes with his sword, prompting Luther off of his feet. When Luther did fall, Hiei raised his katana, preparing himself for the final blow. And then suddenly, Hiei felt a sharp pang of a hard object on his bruised leg. Then he felt a pang on his hand and when he let go, his knee again. Hiei shot a glare at Kurama, only to see that he was as confused as he was. Hiei glanced at Luther, who was backing away slowly on his hands and feet. Hiei raised his sword again, ready to kill him regardless of this mysterious entity. Then Hiei felt the poke of a stick or... cane. Pace.

Hiei turned around and confirmed his earlier suspicions. It was Pace alright, the slightly taller man was smiling with his cane resting on his side.

"Aww Hiei, I thought you were better than this. Hitting a man while he's down; I'm ashamed of you."

Hiei growled. "Would you rather die instead?"

Pace chuckled. "I'm afraid I must pass that generous offer for today Mr. Hiei. Maybe next time."

With that said, Pace took off and Hiei just barely saw him leave (this place was really slowing him down). He turned back around, expecting to see Luther back on his feet and ready for round two only to see nothing. They left, they'd escaped.

Chasing after them ran through his mind, but he thought better of it. They were probably long gone by them and besides, Hiei had something much more important to attend to. He glanced back and his eyes fell on Kurama, he wasn't looking at him instead he was wrestling with the bonds on his hands. Hiei continued staring and he couldn't help but note that even with a black eyes and bloodied lip Kurama was still kind of sexy. He couldn't take the risk like this again, Kurama had almost been taken away from him and made into someone else's. Hie put his sword away and walked toward the struggling Kurama.

Kurama noticed his presence and glanced up for a second, Hiei noted a series of different emotions present in his eyes, 'Shame, sadness, relief, and guilt'. His eyes averted quickly after that and he glanced at Hiei's leg, which was still steadily bleeding.

"Hiei, how's your leg? Does it hurt terribly?" Kurama asked him, going to reach for his leg to touch it but the ropes that bound his hands were stopping.

Hiei frowned and leaned over Kurama to the back of his chair and ripped at the ropes. "My leg is fine, fox. Don't worry about it." Hiei pulled at the ropes, finally setting Kurama free. He couldn't help but note the closeness that they had just experienced, he glanced at Kurama whose face was as pink as Hiei was imagining his to be.

Nothing was said for a moment. Hiei wanted so badly to say something suave and romantic, like Luther would do. He wanted to impress Kurama with all of that gooey stuff that people who Kurama generally like did. But, he couldn't think of anything, he wasn't a hopeless romantic and he never had been. He raised himself hasty and straight-forward in his approaches to everything. So, he decided that he was going to be hasty and straight-forward with Kurama. He was going to kiss him. That was romantic enough, like in those lame fairy tales that Kurama some how still has on his bookcase. When someone would save another person they would lean in for a big kiss! And that would be the end of the story, well that and... they live happily ever after. Hiei inwardly smiled and prepared to lean in to kiss him, but Kurama spoke first.

"I'm so sorry Hiei! I was really an idiot these past couple of weeks. I should have listened to you from the start, you were right about Luther, he's dangerous and a little mentally unbalanced and--" Kurama drifted off and shook his head before glancing at his feet. "I was wrong and I ended up getting you hurt, I am so sorry."

Hiei sighed and let out an sigh. He didn't reply, he didn't really have to Kurama didn't want to hear it yet anyways, he obviously had much more to say. He was so sad, and oddly enough it kind of amused Hiei to no end but he quickly recomposed himself. This wasn't the time to laugh at Kurama, it was the time to win him.

hiei placed his hand on the back of Kurama's chair and leaned in a bit, just enough to be facing Kurama. Hiei allowed a smirk to play on his lips as he leaned a bit closer to Kurama; Kurama glanced up at him again and saw the smirk, and hoped that that meant that he wasn't as angry as he'd originally thought. Kurama smiled softly and spoke. "Hiei, would you please accept my apology? I really don't want to continue fighting, these last few weeks have been killing me."

Hiei chuckled underneath his breath and shrugged nonchalantly. "Stupid fox," He said before capturing Kurama's lips with his own.

* * *

_There you go, that was the longest chapter I have ever written. _

_I'm proud of myself. _

_Well, there you have it. Chapter 12. _

_Chapter 13 should be up by next saturday! _

_Can't wait. _

_Oh, and it will not be as long as this one was. I don't think I could bare it. _


	14. Chapter 13

* * *

**Youkai Orpheus**

**Chapter 13- Home again, Home again**

* * *

They were checked out of there hotel and inside of the train within the next couple of hours. After the wolf tribe had escaped they had to report back to Koenma, explaining everything that had happened with the wolf tribe. Apparently they all escaped, minus Grubby, who they found in one of the boxes, well his body anyways. His head was still missing. They tried to keep the whole meeting as objective as possible, but Hiei went and blurted out the fact that Luther was now obsessed with Kurama and that he had tried to strangle him once. Incidentally, Koenma's entire mood changed and he was anxious to get them out of France and back to Japan as soon as possible, he didn't say why but he obviously knew something that they did not. When they tried to question him about it he simply said that it was for everyone's safety... his eyes were on Kurama when he said it.

In other news, Hiei and Kurama had been much more civil with each other over the past couple of hours; but they still hadn't admitted their feelings for each other. You see, after Hiei had kissed Kurama he was 100 percent prepared to tell Kurama how he felt, but the two buzz-kills had to walk in and ruin the moment. Kurama didn't speak much to Hiei after that, since he was required to put on some kind of "objective" facade for his friends and Koenma; but Hiei did see a couple of light smiles play across his lips when he thought no one was watching. But, Hiei was watching, he was always watching and when he claimed Kurama as his own he would never have to stop.

Now, they were on the train again, trekking back to a portal of some sort so that they could get home. Hiei and Kurama were sitting across from each other almost like the first time they traveled to Paris, almost a month ago, but now they were alone.

Hiei glanced outside the window. His palms were sweaty, his throat was scratchy and his heart was beating rapidly. He didn't know how to start this up, this was the first time that he had been alone with him since he kissed him over an hour ago. He desperately wanted to tell him why but the nervousness was starting to set in, the moment wasn't right anymore. It was right an hour ago when they were in the room, Hiei had just heroically saves Kurama's life and there Kurama was tied up to a chair looking as vulnerable as ever... it was absolutely perfect. But, now they were on a noisy, bumpy, dirty and ugly train... it wasn't going to work. But, on the other hand, they had had a deal! When this mission was over they were going to tell each other how they felt. It was over now.

Hiei glanced at Kurama, who was looking down at his fingers as he tapped them together, he was breathing oddly hard and his face seemed like it would forever be stuck in a deep frown. Hiei sat up in his chair, he didn't want Kurama to frown, he had kissed him a couple of hours ago; he wasn't supposed to be sad, he was supposed to be have that happy grin on his face.

"Fox..." Hiei mumbled with a hint of indifference in his voice.

Kurama attentively looked at Hiei with a small frown on his face. "Yes, Hiei?"

Hiei scrunched his nose, he couldn't say it, not yet. He turned his attention away from the red head and before shaking his head, symbolizing that there was nothing that he wanted to say.

Kurama nodded silently, smiled softly at Hiei and resumed his playing with his nails. Hiei glanced at Kurama, there was something wrong.

"Kuram--" Hiei began.

"It was all my fault."

Hiei raised his right eyebrow and awkwardly placed his hand on his knee. "Kurama, I don't--"

"Everything was my fault. If only I was smarter, maybe I could have stopped all of this before it started."

"Don't worry about it, it's all over now."

Kurama shook his head as Hiei spoke with a distressing look on his face. "No, it's not... Grubby, he..." Kurama stopped and sighed while punching the top of his hand with his other balled up fist.

Hiei glanced down to his toes and sighed angrily. "Kurama, he was evil. He was going to have to get killed sooner or later, whether it was by me or Yusuke or Kuwabara or you. Don't feel bad about that slime getting what he deserved!" Hiei shouted, his voice wasn't angry like it should have been.

Kurama's next sigh was sounded broken to Hiei. "No, you don't understand..." He was barely audible.

Hiei looked at Kurama closer, his eyes were glazed over and he sniffled. "Don't cry, fox."

Green eyes glanced outside of the window, he didn't allow any tears to fall. "Everything that happened to him was my fault! I caused it."

"What happened to you when you were there?"

Kurama shrugged, he just barely remembered what happened when he was there, he remembered how he'd gotten there and he remembered what happened when he woke up. But, there was something in between that was blurred in his memory; Kurama sighed and shook his head. "I don't remember much..."

Hiei scratched his eyebrow in frustration. "What the hell do you remember?"

Kurama, who was unfazed by Hiei's blistered tone, simply rested his chin on his palm. "I remember Luther tricking me into getting there...and I remember what happened to Grubby... I remember what Luther did."

Hiei inwardly growled at the sound of Luther's name and he was about to scold Kurama for the use of it, but he noticed the tears that were still in Kurama's eyes. "What did Luther do?"

"He choked me and he killed Grubby." Kurama said objectively as he rubbed the side of his face. Then he thought he might have remembered something, something that Luther had given to him the first time that he'd woken up, it was some kind of blu-- Kurama suddenly felt a slight shock run through his body and up to his head, he managed to hide the pain from Hiei, but it's not like it was _that_ painful... but it was just enough to make him forget that last thought.

Hiei rested his head on the window sill and gazed outside the train window. There was a long pause, neither of them wanting to say anything because Hiei didn't want to offend Kurama and Kurama was busy having thoughts about Grubby's last moments. "Why did he kill him?"

Kurama's eyes fell deeper to the floor, Hiei noted the guilty look on his face but he didn't comment on it; he would rather Kurama tell him what was on his mind his own. "It was a stupid reason, you would be so disgusted."

"Disgusted with Lut-- that wolf?"

Kurama shook his head. "No, with me."

Hiei wrinkled his eyebrows and removed his head from the window sill. He peered closer at Kurama and looked at him accusingly. "What did you do?"

Kurama nervously glanced back at Hiei and after seeing the stern accusing look on his face, he guiltily dropped his eyes back down to the floor beneath his feet. "Promise you won't laugh."

Hiei scowled. "Fox, this is serious... why would I laugh?"

"Luther caught Grubby and I -you know- making out."

Hiei stared at him dumb-founded for a moment. Kurama tensed up, what if Hiei was mad at him, he took his head out of his palms and began to fiddle with his fingers again out of nervousness. Hiei continued staring for a while before breaking out into a rumbustious fit of laughter. Kurama looked at Hiei, his eyes etched with confusion and a bit of relief. He took a deep breath before joining him in his laughter; They continued in their simultaneous laughter for a couple more seconds before it died down to light, quick snickers.

"Hiei, you promised not to laugh," Kurama continued snickering but he was able to wipe the stony tears from his eyes because of his new found good mood. "I should hit you for that!"

Hiei chuckled comically before wiping his eye from the tears that threatened to fall because of all of that laughter. "How did you do it? You're always telling me that the way he smells makes you queasy."

Kurama snorted. "I just held my breath and let him do his dirty work."

"What made you do that?"

"I don't know, I had to get out of there some how. And he kind of promised to spring me if I agreed to sleep with him after he got me out... but, he needed proof that I was going to do it."

Hiei snickered. "Well, what would you have done if he did get you out of there?"

Kurama pouted theatrically. "I don't know. I think I was planning to ask you to defend my honor."

Hiei stopped snickering and frowned. "I'm really sorry Kurama..."

Kurama's laughter died down as well and he smiled pleasantly at his friend. "About what, it's not like you did anything."

"I didn't kill Luther like I was supposed to, I wanted to chop his head off, not possibly sever his arm."

Kurama dismissed his thought with a wave of the hand. "Don't worry about it Hiei, it's not like it was your fault. There were so many odds stacked against you, I'm kind of impressed that you weren't killed in the fight." Hiei made a disgruntled face, that quickly made Kurama speak up again. "Think about it, you had me constantly distracting you, the thought of another demon coming into the room and stopping you, and that weapon that Luther had. That thing was distracting, I know from personal experience that it's hard to concentrate with that in the room... not to mention how weak it can make you feel."

Hiei sighed angrily and began to rub his knee. "I don't care, I want him dead."

Kurama shrugged and sighed happily. "Well, there's nothing to we can do now."

"That wolf is out there in the world somewhere, he could come and get you at anytime because I couldn't kill him when I was supposed to. He should be dead or in jail right now, not--"

Kurama reached out in the small gap between the chairs and placed his hand on Hiei's knee before smiling. "Look Hiei, if he does come after me I'll be sure to tell you. And we'll handle him together, I promise." Kurama snatched his hand off of Hiei's knee awkwardly and placed his hand on his lap and smiled.

Hiei felt his face growing hot for the second time in the last two hours. What was his fox doing to him? Hiei rested his head on the window sill again, only this time his eyes were on Kurama and not on what was outside the window, maybe this was the perfect time...

Kurama's shy awkward face changed almost immediately in front of Hiei's eyes and was replaced with a sly smirk. "So... you kissed me earlier."

Hiei's face grew even hotter and his eyes shot to to outside of the window again, moment ruined. "Yeah, I did."

Kurama smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you did." Kurama glanced at the roof of the train with and comically exhaled. "So, was there a reason why you did it?"

A smile played on Hiei's lips, one that he had no hope of suppressing, he turned his attention to Kurama and nodded. "Yeah..."

Kurama bit down on his bottom lip before leaning up in his chair and slightly parting his legs. "Would you like to do it again?"

Hiei looked at Kurama with a hint skepticism in his eyes. This was not the time, he couldn't help but think that the timing still wasn't right, he couldn't tell Kurama his feeling yet; but, that doesn't mean that he couldn't get a little taste of something that someone as lowly as Grubby got to sample.

Hiei stood from the chair and sauntered over to Kurama, who was still sitting down and slowly parting his legs as Hiei moved closer. When he was only a couple of inches away from Kurama, the red head roughly grabbed Hiei by the hips and moved him quickly to meet Kurama's lips with his own. Hiei, who was a little bit surprised by the action, chuckled into Kurama's mouth for his anxiousness; then he began kissing the man back. Kurama, who had been a little shocked by his actions too, let his hands fall from Hiei's hips and down onto his own lap. The crimson eyed man wanted to laugh at Kurama again, but he was too wrapped in the hot kiss that Kurama had pulled him into. He snaked his fingers through the ruby-red hair belonging to his current kissing companion and deepened the kiss.

Kurama moved up a little bit more in the seat, the sensitive area between his legs brushed up against Hiei's leg, prompting a moan to escape his lips and go into Hiei's. Hiei noticed the sudden contact and began to teasingly rub his leg on the area between Kurama's long legs. The jade-eyed man moaned into Hiei's mouth before placing his hand on Hiei's toned chest and running it down to his stomach and finally to Hiei's "sensitive area". Neither of the two could believe that this was actually happening, they were kissing _each other;_ they were both full participants. They would've jumped for joy if they weren't already busy getting ready to jump each other.

Hiei tightened his grip in Kurama's hair and broke the kiss, much to the confusion of his counterpart. Hiei sucked in his breath, he knew what he was going to say. He was going to be his normal blunt self and tell Kurama how he felt; now, if only he could get this uncomfortable feeling to go away. Kurama's continued frowning and moved his hand from Hiei's crotch and Hiei removed his leg from Kurama's.

Kurama smiled shyly and began to speak. "So, why'd you stop. Were you nervous?"

Hiei's rolled his eyes and snarled. "No, I was not nervous," Hiei said firmly before stroking the top of Kurama's head. "Listen, I have something to tell y--"

It was the perfect moment, they were alone, in a train compartment, mere inches away from each other and they were both horny. How could it have gotten more perfect? How could this moment be ruined? Oh yeah, now I remember.

"Hey guys!"

Hiei inwardly growled as he chanted to himself, _'No, no, no damn it all, no!'_. Who would have thought that just when he was ready to tell Kurama everything that was in that black abyss that he called his heart, they would show up. Hiei glanced to the side only to see his two 'partners' standing there with awkward and goofy grins on their faces. He glanced at Kurama, whose face was redder than a over-ripe apple, Kurama did his best to return their smiles but it really wasn't working, it came out as a lopsided grin.

"What the hell are you guys doing in here?" Hiei shouted. He untangled his hand from Kurama's hair and took a couple of steps back until the back of his legs were touching his seat.

"Sorry to walk in on your groove, but we needed somewhere to go. The people that we're sharing our compartment with are total squares, all they do is talk and talk and talk and talk..." Yusuke trailed off, and then began speaking again. "Anyways, we were wondering if we could spend the rest of the ride in here with you guys."

"Absolutely no--" Hiei began.

Kurama cut him off quickly. "Sure, I don't see why not. Just go get you stuff."

Kuwabara and Yusuke gave him a thumbs up and then they left again.

Hiei shot Kurama a severe glare before roughly hitting his seat again and turning to look out the window; only Kurama would pass up train sex for something as meager friends.

The green eyed man smiled at Hiei when he saw the expression that he gave him. Kurama leaned down a bit in his seat and began whispering, "Hiei... meet me back at my house later on today-or tonight- whatever it will be when we get back. I think it'll be more comfortable that way, and more private if I can get my family to go out somewhere."

* * *

Kurama arrived home sometime in the afternoon. It was an uneventful homecoming, they spent their time asking how his trip was and what did he see while he was in Europe. Kurama, being the natural liar that he is, simply made things up as he went along, though he did manage to contradict himself at least twice. But, other than that everything was fine; his mother wanted to make him a big dinner in celebration of his homecoming, but Kurama suggested that he was way too tired to have eat. She prompted, but Kurama kept refusing, he didn't want to miss a second with Hiei. After his mother had finally decided that it would be best if he did get some rest, Kurama tried to convince his entire family to go to the movies or something and celebrate without him. Now, it was their turn to refuse; they didn't want to leave him here all by himself on his first day back and Kurama completely understood how they felt. But, he had to get them out of there before Hiei came, they were really going to need some privacy. It took a lot of convincing, but he did manage to get them out of the house and to the grocery store because of their lack of his favorite food for the big welcome home dinner that he had to change his mind about.

Kurama patiently waited on his bed in his room, the window was wide open and it brought in an awkward chill, but Kurama persevered, Hiei would be there soon.

The red-haired man removed himself from his bed and walked toward his closet, goodness, he had never been this nervous before. What was Hiei going to say? What was he going to say? Well, he knew for certain that when he saw Hiei he was going to tell him that he loved him, but what about Hiei? It was probably going to be along the lines of the same thing... but, you can never be too sure. Kurama huffed angrily, before shuffling through his closet. When Kurama found something that he thought he would feel comfortable in for the night he began to change. He had barely gotten the pants half of his pajamas on when he heard a very familiar voice from behind him.

"So, you're already taking your clothes off," Kurama's head snapped back, only to see that it was the man that he'd been waiting all night for, Hiei. "I didn't know you were that anxious to get started."

Kurama smiled softly at Hiei and then turned away again as he put his shirt on. "I was beginning to believe that you weren't going to show." Kurama turned back around and buttoned his shirt as he spoke.

Hiei smirked and sat down on Kurama's bed; Kurama joined him shortly afterwards. Kurama laid down on his back and began to slowly speak. "What did you want to tell me earlier?"

Hiei rolled his eyes and laid back on Kurama's bed as well with his hands curved behind his head."...Promise you won't laugh."

Kurama chuckled and shook his head. "I can't make any promises, I will laugh if it's funny."

Hiei growled lowly. "Fine, then I'm not saying anything!"

Kurama smiled a bit and sat up on his elbow. "I'm sorry Hiei, go on, tell me; I promise I won't laugh."

Hiei glanced at Kurama for a while, he looked sincere enough; and if he wanted to get some before Kurama's parents got home he couldn't afford to be stubborn. Hiei opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't find the right words to express what he was feeling- and there was so much that he was feeling. Kurama seemed to wait patiently enough, he didn't speak a word to prompt Hiei, nor did he make impatient faces; he simply laid there on his elbow with the same curious and yet some how anxious look on his face.

Hiei opened his mouth again, his voice had come back luckily. "I- ummm- there's something I've been wanting to say to you for a while now. But, I can't..." Hiei trailed off. What could he say? He had never had to tell someone that he loved them before, hell, he just barely ever had to tell someone that he was fond of them. This was new to him.

Hiei went to open his mouth again but he was shushed by the feel of Kurama's soft finger being placed on his lips. "You don't have to stress yourself Hiei, I think I know what you're trying to say," With that said Kurama leaned down to Hiei's lips and placed a tender kiss on them; Hiei was not expecting that... well, at least he didn't have to say it now. Kurama pulled away within seconds of meeting Hiei's lips and smiled warmly at him. "And, I feel the same way."

Hiei smirked and lifted up in the same way that Kurama did before literally attacking him with his lips. Kurama squeaked in surprise, but he still kissed him back; he'd dreamed of this for so long, his dreams were finally coming true. The crimson eyed man moved one of his arms to the other side of Kurama and moved himself until he was on top of _his_ kitsune; just like Kurama he could scarcely remember being this happy, it was hard to believe that all of the happenings of the past month led them to this. They had been so angry at each other, in Hiei's case it was to the point of wishing to commit bloody murder to his current companion; thank goodness he hadn't done it!

Kurama wrapped his arms around Hiei's back and pulled the fire demon a little bit closer not noticing that he was close enough already. Hiei used his knee to forcibly part Kurama's long legs, he was so excited, he was finally going to get what he had been waiting for. He was going to be able to claim his fox before anyone else is able to, especially that damn wolf! Hiei separated his lips from Kurama's and moved them down to Kurama's tasty neck, he began to suck on it gently, he heard all kinds of sounds coming from his green-eyed partner below him. This was going to be fun. Hiei began nibbling on Kurama's exposed neck before licking it again, making Kurama go crazy with the quick switches of pain to pleasure. Hiei ran his tongue down Kurama's neck, to his collarbone and all the way down to where his shirt was blocking.

Hiei fought the urge to rip the thing open with his teeth; instead he went did the patient thing and he unbuttoned each and every button individually, much to Kurama's dismay.

"Oh, come on Hiei, hurry up, my parents will be back any minute!" Kurama shouted.

Hiei snickered, who knew he could ever get Kurama to be hot and bothered. When Hiei freed his kitsune from the confounds of his shirt he ran his hand down Kurama's chest and finally down to the waist band of his pants. Kurama bit down on his bottom lip and bucked his hips up once, prompting Hiei to basically 'hurry the hell up!'. Hiei smirked mischievously, but decided that he wasn't going to mess with his fox any longer. Hiei began pulling the pants down when--

_Honk Honk_

Hiei's eyes shot up to Kurama irritation etched on his face. Kurama smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"I told you my parents would be back soon."

Hiei growled angrily and slapped his hand on his forehead; he removed himself from on top of Kurama and stood a couple of inches away from him. "Damn it..."

"You can come back tomorrow, right?"

"I can't be too sure, Mukuro is probably pretty angry with me for going out missioning with you guys except for doing my real job. She might force me to stay a bit longer than a day." Hiei replied with a bit of malice in his voice.

Kurama chuckled and nodded, he lifted himself on both of his elbows this time and smiled. "Just get here when you can... oh, and make sure to take care of that hard thing in your pants by yourself. I don't want you going out cheating on me this early in the relationship." Kurama said, it was intended to be a joke but Hiei was sure that he sensed a little bit of seriousness in there.

He smirked and nodded. "Will do, I'll see you soon, my fox."

"See you soon, my love." Kurama cringed when he said those words, that's what that goofball Luther had called him back when they were going out... about a day ago.

He smiled at him and with one stiff wave he was out of the window. Kurama sighed dreamily and fell back on his bed, thank goodness that was all over with.

* * *

_There's chapter 13 for you!_

_It was hard to write because I've been distracted all weekend, but, I did it!_

_Till next time. : )_


	15. Chapter 14

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A/N: So, I suppose I don't have a real excuse for not posting. I suppose I did for the first three weeks or so, but not anymore. I'm sorry for being sooooooooooo lazy but this darn nookie scene was not trying to write itself. I rewrote it like 95 times before I decided that I didn't want to be satisfied. So, this is a little sucky but I will get better someday.

Warning- There will be sex in this chapter. Huzzah!

Youkai Orpheus

Chapter 14- Meeting Up

* * *

Kurama exhaled. The past couple of weeks had been the most strenuous of his life. Hiei hadn't come back, not that Kurama could blame him. He had probably gotten in big trouble when he got back to Makai and more than likely he was put to work. Fortunately, even though they were separated, Hiei had managed to deliver a rose to Kurama's window sill. Kurama really appreciated it, but he would have rather seen Hiei make an appearance on his window sill. Oh well, the rose was a kind gesture regardless of Kurama's disappointment.

Kurama's home life, on the other hand, was getting much more irritating as the days went by. You see, the arts and culture festival was coming up at his school, in fact it was that very night, and he honestly didn't want to go. His parents (preferably his step-father) felt that that was because he didn't have a date or didn't want a date. In simple terms, he was super irritated with the whole situation... even his little brother had a date.

The kitsune trudged outside of his bathroom and downstairs into his dining room. His parents and brother were already seated and eating; they had some how gotten into the habit of forgetting about him for breakfast in the morning since that month that he'd been gone. Kurama would be fine with it if he didn't have to rush to finish just to keep up with his family. Kurama smiled at each of them before taking a seat, where his food was already ready and prepared.

"Good Morning Sweetie!" Kurama's super cheery happy mother piped up as soon as he took a seat.

Kurama smiled at her before quickly taking a long sip of his water and politely (but quickly) taking a bite of his egg and scooping up his rice. He stopped for a while to yawn, but then he went on even quicker than before.

Noticing Kurama's unusual exhausted behavior, his step-father decided to speak. "Did you have a good rest last night?"

Kurama nodded, he would have answered verbally but his mouth was still stuffed with eggs. He quickly reached for his water and drunk it slowly. Finally, his throat was back to normal. "Yes, my night was much less fitful then any of my previous."

Shiori looked at him sympathetically. "Are you still having that dreadful dream?"

Kurama pursed his lips together, suddenly losing his appetite. Lately he had been having the strangest dreams, and the strangest thing about them is that they aren't eventful, they don't have any kind of story to them, they're just simply silly recurring dreams that can't seem to escape him. The first thing that he sees is a huge clock, there are no numbers inside, only a blue clock; then, there will be an overbearing group of ticks inside, followed by beetles and then bumblebees. The hands on the clock move very slow, smashing each and every bug that it comes in contact with. Every night Kurama would awake at at least 3am with a horrible headache and a sick feeling in his stomach; he had told his mother about it but she simply told him that it would pass, it didn't.

"Yes mother, although it's no longer having a big effect on me as it used to."

"Well, that is good dear."

Kurama nodded to her before taking another long sip of his water.

They ate in silence after that, none of them having anything anything interesting to say. Kurama sat there not even bothering to strike up a conversation because he knew where it would possibly lead.

* * *

Hiei walked through Ningenkai aimlessly, he had finally gotten away. Mukuro had been royally pissed when she found out why he'd been gone for over a month. You see, he hadn't bothered giving her any kind of explanation for his absence, he simply assumed that she had some kind of idea where he was going.

And when he did make it back that night after he almost had sex with Kurama, she had assumed that he had spent that month of absence accosting Kurama. Hiei had done his best to convince her otherwise, but she was relentless and she had immediately put him to serious work. After a couple of days though, she had believed his previous excuse and she had put a notice out about the four remaining members of the wolf tribe.

Hiei was sure that they would've been found by now. In fact, all of the time that he didn't spend working was spent searching for that group, there had been no sign of them, not even a little clue as to where they were hiding.

Alas, after nearly a month of working non-stop, Mukuro had insisted that he deserved a couple of days off to rest. Hiei was honestly very excited, he really was tired; but, he had decided that he didn't want to spend his time sleeping by himself when he could sleep with someone else.

* * *

Kurama's day in school dragged on as it usually did since he had gotten back. He was very busy with all of the work that he'd missed because of his month-long absence because of the Pneumonia that he had caught in a snow storm. Yes, that had been his lie and his teachers defiantly believed him. Anyways, he always seemed to be busy but he was thankful that it took his mind off of the other problems of his life.

After school was over, Kurama went home with the full intention of napping through the festival. But, fate had other plans for him...

As soon as Kurama stepped into his house he was met with the gazes of all of his family members, they were all sitting on the couch obviously covering something up. His little brother stood there with a look of apprehension on his face as he looked at Kurama, his step-father looked amused and his mother's eyes were shining. This couldn't be good. Kurama cautiously stepped fully into his house with a small frown on his face.

"What's wrong?"

Shiori stood up and quickly wrapped her arms around Kurama's shoulders, the red-headed demon returned the hug awkwardly but quickly pulled away with a deep frown on his face.

"Didi something happen while I was away?"

Shiori waved her hand at him and giggled. "It seems like you will have a date for the culture festival tonight!"

Kurama frowned and shook his head, did his parents set him up or something? What jerks! Kurama's face hardened considerably as he glanced and sniffed around the house for any sign of a female face or the whiff of tacky perfume. To Kurama's delight, he didn't see anyone. He turned to his mother with a small smile on his face and shrugged.

"What are you talking about, Mother?"

Shiori took a couple of steps back and pointed to behind her, and on the table was a vase, a vase filled with some of the most lovely flowers that Kurama had ever seen, they were Begonias, Gardenias and of course, Roses. Kurama raised his eyebrows and slowly walked toward the lovely bouquet with a small frown on his face.

"What is this?"

"We don't know, they were on the door step when we got home, it said for Shuichi... we assumed they were for you."

Kurama's frown deepened and he narrowed his eyes to look at the roses again, they were lovely, Kurama couldn't resist them. He plucked the card out of the bouquet and quickly opened it. It read,

_To the most perfect man in the world,_

_I thought I would give you this for old times sake,_

_And because I have a favor to ask you, would you please meet me at your arts and culture festival tonight?_

_Love, Your not so secret admirer  
_

He heaved a heavy sigh and slipped the note in his back pocket. Yet another person swooning over him for bad reasons, he did not need another Luther-like fiasco. But, he had been extra bored lately and he probably did need to get out a little and besides, it's not like a real date or anything, just something that he was occupying himself with while Hiei was away. Kurama turned around and smiled pleasantly at his family.

"I suppose I do have a date."

Shiori and Kazuyu clapped their hands theatrically and congratulated Kurama on a job well done; Kurama did a mock bow to them before glancing at his step brother, whom was feeling all of the embarrassment for him.

Kurama began heading upstairs to get himself prepared for his first date in a very long time when there was a soft knock on the door. He decided not to answer and he instead motioned for someone else to do it as he ran up the stairs. And as soon as Kurama made it up the stairs, he was immediately called back down again by his mother, much to his annoyance.

As Kurama walked down the stairs, he did his best to hide his irritation when he said, "Yes Moth--er" And there he was, his not-yet lover but definite boyfriend, Hiei. His entire family was simply gawking at his strange clothing, clothing that Kurama had never even noticed before.

Kurama couldn't suppress the small grin that formed on his lips when he saw him and Hiei obviously couldn't suppress his either.

"Kurama, one of your friends are here to visit you." Shiori said sweetly as she opened the door wider. "Would you like to come in."

Hiei shook his head and shifted his gaze away.

When Kurama began walking toward the door with a small smile on his face, but he frowned when he was stopped halfway there by his step-father softly grabbing his arm.

"I bet he's the one who got you the flowers."

Kurama gave him a look of annoyance before smiling softly. "You know you're probably right." He whispered before freeing his arm from his step-father's hold and walking to Hiei and saying, "So, are you ready to go to the festival?"

Hiei wrinkled his eyebrows and looked at Kurama dumbly. Kurama widened his eyes at him and nodded at him, signifying that it was all a lie; and after a couple eerie moments of silence, he nodded back.

"Well, I'll be leaving now." Kurama said as he tried to rush out of the door, but he was quickly stopped.

"Wait dear, it doesn't start for a while." Shiori said.

"I really do enjoy being early." He reasoned.

Then Shuuichi piped in, "I'm going to see you there, right?"

"Of course you will," Kazuyu interrupted. "Let's just let Kurama get out of here with his friend, I'm sure he's anxious."

Kurama gave his step-father a thankful smile and then rushed out of the door with a short good bye to everyone. As soon as they made it outside, Kurama turned to the shorter man and smiled. "Hi!"

"Hi."

They were silent as they walked down further away from Kurama's house and in the opposite direction of Kurama's school. Hiei's smile was slowly coming back, after almost a month of being away from his fox he was back here again and they were finally going to have sex, _finally..._

They continued walking for what seemed like hours until they made it to a more private area. "So, did you have anything planned for tonight?"

Hiei shrugged, "I did... but, your parents were home."

Kurama chuckled before leaning back on a tree. "We can always go to the festival," Hiei rolled his eyes and turned away, displaying his discomfort for the idea. "Oh, don't be that way Hiei. It might be fun."

"There's no way it's more fun than what I originally planned to do."

Kurama smiled softly and shook his head. "Do you have a better idea?"

Hiei tilted his head up and began to think; Kurama raised his eyebrows for a mere second before ignoring Hiei and glancing into the woods that were in front of him. He knew better than to interrupt the irritable fire demon when he was in deep thought, he would likely lose a limb. After a couple of minutes, Hiei quickly ran to Kurama and grabbed his hand before pulling him through the woods. They ran through there for only a couple of minutes before they ended up in a small clearing.

Kurama looked dumbly down at the grass with a light smile on his face. They were going to do it here? Wow, it is a dream come true. Kurama looked at Hiei with a comical expression on his face.

"We're doing it in the grass?"

Hiei grunted, "Would you rather your house?" He took his very long cloak off and laid it on the grass, hoping to curve Kurama's enthusiasm a bit.

Kurama didn't bother fighting the blush that crept onto his cheeks. "No, this is just fine," Kurama said with a shrug before shrinking onto the Hiei's cloak and the moist grass with his legs laying freely on top of each other. "In fact, this is perfect. It kind of reminds me of the old days."

Hiei felt a twinge of jealousy run up his spine at the mention of Kurama's old endeavors with his old lovers. He didn't like to think about them that much, even though Kurama obviously did. If he had a choice he would never talk about it, but he knew that they were fond memories of Kurama's and he couldn't bare to take those away from him. Besides, he was the only one with him now and he could defiantly take pride in that; his face morphed into a small smile when he sat beside Kurama.

Kurama smiled shyly and untangled his legs. "Wow, this place is so private," Kurama mused. "You would never guess where Luther took me to do it once."

The jealousy and rage was back with a vengeance. Hiei repressed the growl that was threatening to escape his throat and simply shifted uncomfortably before standing up again. "Where did he take you?"

Kurama chuckled at Hiei's discomfort and he moved back a bit, resting his weight on his hands. "Believe it or not, he took me to an alleyway."

Hiei was obviously confused at first but when he realized that Kurama wasn't lying he looked amused. He joined his fox back on the dewy grass, only this time he was much more relaxed. Kurama eased up as well and parted his legs a bit.

"You didn't do it with him did you?"

Kurama opened his mouth to answer but quickly closed it to hinder the laughs that were about to erupt. When Kurama stifled his giggles long enough to shake his head.

"Do you honestly believe I'd settle for a back alley? And with him? I have much better aspirations for my first time in this body," Kurama stretched his arm back and leaned back a bit more. "This is absolutely perfect, I could never imagine a better place!"

Hiei's smugly raised his eyebrows, "What could I say, I suppose I know what you like."

Kurama nudged him suggestively with his elbow and smirked as well. "Who would've thought you could be romantic?" Kurama remarked teasingly. "Not even Luther impressed me this much."

Hiei opened his mouth to reply but it he was caught off guard with the soft lips belonging to his fox. He felt whatever snappy remark that he had prepared, go back down his voice box and disappear, there was no use ruining the moment now. He laced his fingers into Kurama's scarlet locks and gripped tightly onto the roots, pushing the taller man deeper into his mouth closer to his face. Kurama let out a small cry, but other than that he was pretty silent. Hiei broke the kiss a couple of short minutes later to breath, much to the fox demon's disappointment.

Kurama pouted a little before placing his hand on the back of his head and rubbing the throbbing ache on the back of it. But regardless of the pain, he couldn't help but feel a little giddy. It had been a while since he did this with someone, over 30 years if he was counting correctly. After Kuronue died, he honestly didn't do anything with anyone. He escaped into himself and went into a deep depression, forcing himself to live a life similar to that of a monk for a while. Then, he became a human child and sex became taboo for one his age.

But he was old enough now! And he was in love again, what luck!

Hiei placed his hand on Kurama's chest and gently pushed him on his back on the grass. He couldn't fight the sense of pride that attacked him when Kurama obediently followed his 'instructions'. He moved his knee in between Kurama's legs before crashing his lips onto his fox's once again, reveling in that unfaltering bliss.

Kurama moved down a bit onto Hiei's knee, seeking much more friction then he was getting as his crimson-eyed lover coaxed his lips open with his tongue.

He placed his hand on Kurama's neck as he Frenched Kurama relentlessly. Old images of Luther kissing his fox flashed through his mind, which caused him to deepen the kiss; he had every intention of getting that man's taste out of Kurama's mouth.

He enjoyed watching Kurama writhing and looking so helpless underneath him. He had always dreamed of something like this and he was proud that he had managed to make it come true. Hiei ran his fingers down his fox's arms, down his torso and finally to the waist band of his school pants.

Kurama felt his face growing warm at of the new contact.

Hiei used one of his hands to unclasp the buttons on Kurama's school shirt and the other to unzipped Kurama's school pants. He could already feel Kurama's hardness through his pants, but he had a sneaking feeling that his was much harder than Kurama's. When Kurama's shirt was unbuttoned, Hiei dipped down to Kurama's chest and kissed it softly, causing Kurama to shiver underneath his touch. Hiei gave himself a mental pat on the back for sparking such a reaction.

Despite Hiei's aching hardness, he couldn't help but tease the fox a little. He deserved it after all, he's always been one of the biggest teases alive. It was defiantly pay back time!

Hiei completely unclasped Kurama's pants and dipped his hand inside; Kurama let out the first frustrated moan of the night as he buckled his hips into Hiei's hand.

"Hiei, what... the hec--!" Kurama broke out into a moan when Hiei stroked him one good time.

Hiei laughed quietly underneath his breath his he kissed Kurama's all over his chest and stomach. "How do you like it."

"I hate it!" Kurama grunted, "Do something!"

Hiei chuckled before pumping his hand inside of Kurama's pants again. But he quickly snatched his hand away earning an angry moan from Kurama; he placed both of his hands on Kurama's neck and moved a little closer to his face.

He couldn't help but be a little amused by his lovers agitated expression. "What's wrong?"

Kurama huffed. "Hiei if you ever want to have sex again, I would suggest you--" Kurama was cut off by the lips of his lover smashing onto his lips. Kurama really hadn't meant to sound so desperate, but he really wanted this. Little did he know, his constant threats were simply exciting the Koorime on top of him.

Hiei moved his mouth off of Kurama's lips and down to his neck; prompting a very low moan from Kurama. Kurama leaned his body up a bit and shed himself of his school shirt before laying back down in the grass; Hiei promptly removed his shirt as well and threw it a couple of feet away before capturing Kurama's lips again.

Kurama was still kind of reeling from that teasing that Hiei had dished out on him before; he was beginning to think that it was time for a little pay back. Kurama broke their kiss and began moving down Hiei's body from his position underneath him, it was a little difficult but Hiei lifted himself up a bit with his hands, making it much easier for Kurama to kiss down his chest and finally down to his pants. He slowly tugged down Hiei's pants, freeing his hard shaft from the confines of his pants; he heard Hiei's little hiss at the rush of cool air but frankly, he couldn't care less.

"...Kurama..." Hiei hissed when he found that Kurama wasn't planning on doing anything.

Kurama smiled to himself and then lifted his body up a bit to give the very tip of Hiei's hardness a lick; Hiei groaned, but continued holding himself up as Kurama lay underneath him, both of them were pretty uncomfortable with their positions. After about 10 seconds of nothing, Kurama placed his finger on Hiei's member and ran it down to the head again before giving it yet another long lick, much to Hiei's dismay.

Hiei huffed, "Damn it, Kura--" Hiei's voice hitched when he felt his cock becoming encompassed into something warm and wet and he let out a long sigh of relief. He could not have figured out a better way to put Kurama's big mouth to better use. Hiei did his best to stay still as Kurama stressfully bobbed his head up and down, trying to take all of Hiei in his mouth, to little prevail. He did all that he could and Hiei seemed very pleased.

Hiei bit down on his bottom lip to suppress any moans and groans that were threatening to escape his lips. Kurama was really good at this, it made Hiei wonder where he learned it all from...

Kurama continued at the bobbing motion until he heard Hiei's breath becoming more labored and ragged, and Kurama knew that that was the universal sign that he was getting close. He pulled away and smirked when he heard the irritated sigh that escape Hiei's mouth; the red-head demon lightly blew on the tip of Hiei's still hard member. Hiei shuddered, yep, this was defiantly pay-back for what he had done earlier. After a while of blowing, Kurama placed his mouth back on Hiei's "prick" and began to steadily suck at it again.

Kurama went on periodically with sucking Hiei off, pulling away right before he had time to come and then lightly "breathing" onto it before taking it into his mouth yet again. It was kind of funny actually, this was the first time that Kurama had someone writhing and moaning irritably while they were above him. Life was defiantly good!

"K-Kuram-- I can't--" Hiei struggled out after Kurama released his cock from the confounds of his mouth again.

Kurama smiled inwardly, "I suppose you've learned your lessons about teasing the master of teasing." Kurama murmured before uncomfortably reaching his head up and taking Hiei's entire member into his mouth. Hiei released in no time at all, but forced himself not to slump down, in case he'd make Kurama more pissed off at him. He remained in that minor push-up position until Kurama moved up a bit, until he was facing Hiei and kissed him quickly on the side of his mouth.

"Are you ready for the good part?" Kurama asked him shyly.

Hiei smirked uneasily, he was still not quite recovered from the torture that he had just experienced and he wasn't sure whether Kurama was going to find a new way to make him miserable. But, then the thought struck him! He was the one in control now, finally!

Hiei lightly kissed Kurama's cheek before nibbling down his neck and chest, until he reached his stomach... all the while he was unbuttoning and pulling down the beautiful ones school pants and briefs. Kurama's soft whines and whimpers didn't go unnoticed by his companion as he rubbed his now bare hips with his nails. His hands snaked their way from Kurama's hips and to his hardened member; Kurama hissed and arched his body into Hiei's hands.

Those noises that Kurama was making were driving Hiei insane, he could feel the his blood rushing much lower than usual; he couldn't hold it off any longer. Hiei took one of his hands away from Kurama and took a couple of fingers into his mouth, slathering them with his saliva, all the while watching Kurama absently buck his hips forward and fist his own hair... so hot!

When Hiei was sure that his fingers were wet enough, he moved lower on Kurama's body until he was low enough to lift Kurama's legs up until they nearly met with his shoulder. He looked at Kurama for some kind of approval and he received a very frantic nod. Hiei slipped two fingers in at once and glowered at the look of pleasure that came across his fox's face. He moved them around a bit, finding Kurama's spot almost two easily. He smirked and continued to brush across that spot, while stretching Kurama out as effectively as he could. He inserted a third finger and frowned when he saw the look of discomfort sweep across Kurama's face, one that he had tried to hide with his hand; Hiei had no intention of making Kurama uncomfortable but he knew that it was necessary because of this body, it was virgin and it was human. That was not a great combination for a demon.

When he felt that Kurama was stretched out enough he removed his fingers from his fox and placed his hands on the back of his thighs, positioning himself correctly to enter. He looked at Kurama for a second time for approval,

"You ready?"

Kurama smiled weakly at Hiei and nodded. "Please..."

Hiei smiled back at him and without another word buried himself in his new lover; he cried out at the sudden pleasure that he felt. He hadn't thought that a single person could be this pleasurable, the heat, the tightness; he had never experienced anything like it. All of the sexual experiences that he had were all with demons, those naturally loose ones too; but now, here he was with Kurama the sexual monk who hadn't yet shared his new body with anyone. So amazing.

His eyes snapped to Kurama when he saw that he was not moving or making sounds yet. He laid there biting down on his lip, he didn't seem to be in pain but just a little uncomfortable.

"Are you okay?" Hiei asked as he stopped his motions.

Kurama chuckled lowly. "Yes, I just forgot how uncomfortable it feels on ones first time... it has been over 1000 years after all," Kurama joked with a small smile on his face; but when he saw the look of distress on Hiei's face he immediately frowned. "Please don't mind me... continue..."

Hiei continued with his actions from before, only this time his thrusts were slower and steadier. And to his relief, Kurama seemed to be getting into it. He was starting to meet Hiei in his slow thrusts and soft whimpers were beginning to escape his lips.

Kurama did appreciate how Hiei was trying to be as gentle as possible with him; he thought it was really a sweet gesture. But, he couldn't take it anymore; he needed release and he liked it _rough._

"Hiei... more!" Kurama growled desperately.

Just the word that he was waiting for. Hiei had been hungry for more since they had started. Hiei began pushed himself deeper into Kurama and listened with pride as Kurama cried out his name for the first time that night. Hiei continued to drive himself into his fox over and over, until they were practically moaning each others names in ecstasy at each thrust. And before long they had both reached their edges, Kurama had been first and Hiei followed in a couple of short seconds.

And just like that it was all over, their first time and in their opinions, their most amazing time was over. Neither of them were disappointed.

Hiei slumped down unto Kurama's chest while trying to regain his breath, while Kurama simply allowed his head to fall back onto Hiei's cloak.

"Wow..." Kurama squeaked.

Hiei smirked and removed his face from Kurama's chest, peering at the lovely face in front of him. He looked downright arousing laying there, his face was still red from all of that blushing that he had done and his hair was practically all over the place. He had never looked so perfect in Hiei's eyes. Speaking of eyes, when Hiei glanced into those love-filled orbs he found himself losing all sanity, no wonder Luther had fallen so hard. Hiei pulled out of Kurama and moved himself up so that he laying on top of him, their faces only inches apart. Kurama smiled at him with all of the love in the world and wrapped his arms around Hiei's neck; Hiei smiled back at him and then leaned and kissed him softly on the lips.

When he broke the kiss he smiled lazily at his lover and lifted his hand to gently caress his face, _So beautiful_.

"I love you." Hiei said quickly before burying his face in Kurama's neck.

Kurama chuckled and tightened his grip on Hiei's neck. "I love you too."

Within a couple of minutes they were dreaming about each other.

* * *

OMG!

I finally finished.

Next chapter should be up soon, not like this monstrosity of an update time.


	16. Chapter 15

Warning- There will be like a little sex in this chapter, not like alot, but a little; nothing to be too concerned about.

* * *

Youkai Orpheus

Chapter 15- Family

* * *

Hiei woke up feeling more relaxed than he had in a long time, his body, his mind, even the environment was relaxed. The crickets were still playing their music as the trees danced along, gently waving back and forth hiding the beautiful scene below them.

He yawned and scanned about the area for his clothes and spotted his pants and shirt laying underneath a tree on top of Kurama's pants--

Kurama!

Surprisingly, Hiei had almost forgotten about his fox lover. He looked down and saw the naked body, felt steady heart beat and heard the shallow breathing of the pale body underneath him.

Hiei smirked as he ran his fingers through the sleeping fox's mane. He was so happy that they had finally gotten it done, and boy had they gotten it done. He could not help but feel proud that he was the first person to take this body, it belonged to him which meant that Kurama belonged to him and only him. No one was ever going to take him away.

Now, how to wake him up? Hiei moved a little bit closer to Kurama's face and harshly kissed him on the lips. Hiei was shocked to see that his little sleeping beauty remained unconscious, only murmuring a couple of indistinguishable words before lulling himself deeper into dreamland. Hiei moved back in and kissed Kurama's lips again, only this time much harder.

When he pulled away Kurama was half awake and it was at that very moment that Hiei realized how lucky he was. There was his lover underneath him looking just as heavenly as ever; his eyes half open, a small smile gracing his lips, his previously tussled hair had settled and the moonlight above their heads was shining onto his lips and face, making him practically glow. Just heavenly.

"Good Morning." Hiei said.

Kurama's smile widened as he placed his hand over his eyes. "Good Morning... last night was great... Luther..."

Hiei winced. What the hell was he doing thinking about that person? The now very irritable demon roused the fox awake by harshly shaking him by the shoulders and immediately after Kurama broke into a fit of giggles.

"What the hell Kurama!" Hiei growled through clenched teeth.

Kurama's giggles died out into a small smirk as he raised his eye brows innocently. "I'm sorry, I thought it would be funny."

Hiei rolled his eyes. "It would be funnier if he wasn't still a threat!"

Kurama began laughing again and Hiei found that he couldn't suppress the small smile that was threatening his lips.

"You're going to pay for that!" Hiei tried to sound serious, but there was a hint of playfulness in his voice as he began to 'attack' Kurama's neck with little bites and and licks, only earning more giggles from his fox.

"How can you make me pay, Hiei?"

"I think I know exactly how..." Hiei said as he ran his finger down the side of Kurama's torso. He leaned back a bit and began kissing down Kurama's stomach until he got a little lower, at which time he removed himself from Kurama's body and lifted his leg and much to Kurama's dismay he ran his hand up and down his thigh and giving it soft licks ever once in a while.

Kurama really wanted to try and enjoy this, but something was nagging him; he was being distracted and he knew it... but from what?

"I was hoping you'd wake up in time to do this again."

Time! That was it! What time was it? He couldn't have overslept, he was supposed to be back in time to meet his brother at the festival and walk him back home. Kurama went to grab for his watch while fighting moans from the assault of Hiei's new style of teasing. It had to be a little early, he did not want to get in too much trouble.

His eyes widened at what he saw,

Two o'clock am!

The festival had ended over three hours ago. He didn't have time for another round. He had to get home.

"Hiei, I have-" Kurama was promptly cut off when Hiei suddenly, and without warning, buried himself deep inside of him for the second time that night. Kurama almost let out a startled cry, but he quickly stifled it by covering up his mouth as his lover thrust himself into Kurama manically.

Hiei kissed Kurama's chest in attempt too drown out what he just knew Kurama was going to say. He knew damn well that Kurama should have been home hours ago and hours ago he had played with the idea of waking him up so that he could go back to his family. But the big green monster had reared its ugly head and Hiei felt an overwhelming feeling of jealousy and possessiveness fill his loins. Kurama's family gets to spend hours and hours with him every day but Hiei rarely got time to spend with him.

But now, as far as he was concerned, Kurama belonged to him and they were going to have to learn to share.

"Hiei-" Kurama sucked in a large amount of breath to avoid another pleasurable moan. He began pulling the grass underneath and made a memo to himself to apologize to the plants later.

"Fox, just shut up!" Hiei groaned.

Kurama whimpered and shielded his burning cheeks from Hiei with his hand and began to speak with a shaky voice. "But... I'm supposed to-" He sucked in a very deep breath, "I should have been home..." Kurama stopped himself to moan and began to meet Hiei halfway with his thrusts. It is not like he could stop himself, his stiffening member was getting the better of him.

Hiei gave him one rough thrust as a reply and then he went on with a couple that were more gentle.

Kurama could no longer keep his breathing under control, he was only able to sigh out a couple of syllables. "Hiei, please!"

"Kurama, please, just let me finish." Hiei muttered in a stern yet pleading voice.

Kurama ran through the possibilities. If he made it home any later than what was expected of him his family would be relentless in asking him questions until it got to the point where he would either have to tell them that he was sleeping with his boyfriend or they would figure it out themselves because of the make out hair, the mysterious stains on his clothes or the flustered look on his face that was bound to stay there. He honestly couldn't bare to have his family knowing so much about his personal life. After all, he was only seventeen years old and based on the rules of society, he was not supposed to be having sex. He could already see the look on disappointment on his mother's face.

But, on the other hand, the love of his life was sitting there buried deep inside of him, practically begging him to stay and have passionate sex with him? Who knew how long it would be until they would have a chance like this again? What should he do?

"...Okay."

* * *

Hiei and Kurama didn't completely finish for another hour. They had been so exhausted that they had both fallen asleep again for at least another fifteen minutes before they forced themselves up and rushed to put their clothes on; Hiei hadn't been the least bit surprised when he noticed that his cloak was completely ruined from their escapades.

The walk back to Kurama's house was strenuous for both of them. They were still suffering from the aftershocks of that amazing 'coupling' they just had. They couldn't help stumbling along the sidewalks and bumping into each other.

Hiei knew that it was much worse for Kurama than it was for him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that Kurama was sore, no matter how much he had tried to hide it.

His limp was strong and he could barely fight the grimaces that twisted onto his face when he had to take long steps. Hiei really felt bad; he hadn't meant to be so rough but Kurama had looked so damn sexy laying there with his legs wide open and inviting. The maniacal side of him had taken over and he couldn't stop himself. Hiei frown deepened, he really was a bastard.

He made sure to stay attentive with Kurama's every step; if Kurama lost his balance at any step he would be able to catch him.

"Why are you standing so far away?"

Hiei snapped out of his thoughts and and glanced at his fox, who had stopped walking and was looking at Hiei with a worried look on his lovely face.

Hiei shook his head and walked closer to Kurama; Kurama still looked a bit worried but he smiled at him and continued walking.

And he just knew that Kurama already forgave him.

* * *

When they reached the end of the forest, Kurama took Hiei's cloak and promised to take care of it and Hiei agreed to stick around town for a little while longer so that they could see each other again and then they went their separate ways.

Kurama looked at his watch again, and seeing that the time had tripled since the last time that he checked, broke out into a steady jog towards his home. He knew that he was in trouble and his parents were disappointed. He also knew that if they knew where he had been his status with them would be in even worse shape. But still, it was worth it.

He was glad that Hiei was going to be staying for a few extra days, it was a very rare for him to stay in Ningenkai for long. Even before the mission, Hiei usually popped in and out; Kurama saw him for a two or three hours and then he left. Even on the nights when he stayed over, he usually left before Kurama awoke. It was exhausting.

One of Kurama's main worries with their relationship was the distance. They literally lived a world apart. Kurama didn't want to leave his home and he knew that Hiei was content where he was; that was going to be difficult. They were going to have to deal with it, though. Kurama loved Hiei too much to let their relationship end, ever.

Kurama was snapped out of his thoughts by the approaching view of his home. It looked so peaceful from so far away, almost as if it didn't pose a threat. So quaint.

But, in reality, the fact that the family room light was still on caused a shiver to shake Kurama's spine.

When Kurama made it to the front door, he stopped and took a deep breath before slowly unlocking it with his key and walking inside.

His mother and stepfather were both laying on the couch with a blanket wrapped around them. The phone was mere inches away from his mother's face and his father's hand was resting on the top of it.

He suddenly felt very guilty; they had tried to wait up all night for him. Kurama glanced at his watch and saw that it was nearly Five am. Those poor souls.

Kurama approached the pair and gently tapped the both of them on the shoulder and whispered, "I'm home."

His mother jolted awake and would have bumped heads with Kurama if he hadn't pulled back in time; and his step-father groggily followed his mother. Both of their eyes were on Kurama, a mixture of relief and confusion in their glares.

"Shuichi," Shiori swung her legs over the couch and stood. She ran into Kurama's arms, nearly eclipsing him in an embrace. Kurama was more than a little shocked by his mother's reaction. "Your back!"

Kazuyu removed himself from the couch as well and smiled at Kurama. "We were really worried about you."

Kurama stared at them wide eyed. Why weren't they yelling and scolding him for his irresponsible behavior. "Ummm... I'm sorry to worry you."

Shiori let her son out of the bone crushing hug and backed away. "Shuuichi told us that you had walked him home but left with a couple of your friends. We thought something had happened to you when you were out. Thank goodness, you're still here."

Kurama smiled to himself. His little brother could do wonders, he had no idea that he would have covered for him the way that he had; what a brother he had.

"Just, please do us a favor and never stay out this late again." Kazuyu said.

Shiori quickly nodded. "Yes, please don't do this again."

Kurama frowned, but nodded. Looks like there will be no more late night rendezvous with Hiei. "I won't, I promise."

Shiori walked went to pick up the blanket that she had knocked down on the floor when she rushed up to greet her son and began to walk up the stairs. "Well, you must be tired, Shuichi," She started. "You should get to bed, that's where I'm going. Good night." She abandoned the two men after that.

Kurama stood awkwardly a couple of inches away from his step father, who was smirking at him. Kurama turned his attention to the man standing behind him with a curious gleam in his eyes. "What?"

The man shrugged and looked toward the staircase. "You were with that boy all night weren't you?"

Kurama rolled his eyes, but saw no need in lying to him. "Yes, but, I don't see how that is any business of yours."

"It's not, I just wanted to know." He said with a hint of humor in his voice. "I am glad to see that you're finally growing up." He patted Kurama awkwardly on the shoulder.

Kurama laughed lightly. "Don't you mean, coming out?"

Kazuyu chuckled. "Yeah," He turned away and began walking up the stairs. "Night, son."

Kurama felt the sides of his lips twitching up. "Goodnight."

When his step-father was out of sight, Kurama made his way into the laundry room where he disposed of Hiei's cloak in the washer and then he quickly made his way upstairs to clean himself off.

His shower was long; he desperately wanted to wash all of the sweat and semen off of his body. A good thing, though, was that he despite all of the soap and cream that he put on himself there was still the slightest aroma of Hiei present on his skin. He delighted in the scent, it gave him a constant reminder of their late evening and early morning activities, he never wanted to forget.

When Kurama was finished showering, he placed Hiei's cloak in a dryer and then he scrambled back up the stairs to his bedroom. He was beginning to feel like a slug, it was already seven am and Hiei had really tired him out during their second round; when he set foot inside of his bedroom his bed was looking like heaven. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

* * *

_Tap, Tap _

Kurama peeled his eyes open and sighed, he felt like he hadn't slept in weeks, he really must have been tired. He peered at the digital clock on his night stand, and groaned. It was already three pm, how long had he slept?

He laced his fingers inside of his red hair and yanked at the roots, he didn't understand why his family hadn't woken him up earlier. He didn't have school or anything, it was a Sunday. But, he still had so many things to attend to and he wanted to find time to visit Hiei. He doubted he could finish all of his chores and still find time for Hiei now; looks like their day together was ruined.

The kitsune was about to get up and investigate the tapping on his window when he felt a sudden pain shock his temple. He slapped his hand on top of his head and ran into the bathroom; he hadn't met any of his family members on the way, thank goodness, and he was able to make a clean break there. He leaned on the sink and ran the water and splashed it on his face. It didn't do much to make his headache any better, but it did distract him from it.

Kurama cringed when his headache began to affect his stomach. It gave him this weird feeling, like he was about to vomit, but nothing would come out. No matter how much he gagged and sputtered, all he got was air. After a while the sharp pain in his head changed to a dull ache and the queasiness in his stomach transformed into a severe emptiness. Had he just been hungry? That would make a lot of sense, he had not eaten since Lunch Time at his school yesterday. He had defiantly been hungry. Kurama wiped his mouth, clearing away any of the water that was still present and then stood.

He exited the bathroom, he could hear his parents talking among themselves in their room and he could hear his younger brother speaking on the phone with one of his friends. He felt relief rush over him, he was glad that they hadn't noticed any of that commotion that he had caused in the bathroom.

He walked back into his bedroom and plopped down on his bed. He buried his head inside of his hands and began to breath deeply. He defiantly had to eat something soon, he didn't want to pass out.

_Tap, Tap _

That sound. It was so annoying, no wonder Kurama had gotten his headache. He turned around and gazed at the window, expecting to see a bird pecking at his window, but instead he saw something that brought a bright smile to his face. He hopped out of his seat on the bed and ran up to his window and after pulling it open, he crashed his lips onto the man on the other side.

Hiei was a little shocked at the sudden assault, but he didn't pull away, he simply allowed the taller man to kiss his lips tenderly.

After a couple of seconds, the flustered fox pulled away and smiled shyly at Hiei.

"How long have you been here?"

Hiei shrugged. "Probably since you got here."

"That was hours ago." Kurama could not fight the the smirk that was appearing on his lips. Hiei had really waited up for him that long? That had to be the cutest thing that he had ever done

"I know, you have no idea how difficult it was to not go back to Makai while I was waiting for you to wake up."

Kurama frowned; the fact that Hiei even mentioned preferring Makai to his house was a little disheartening, but on the other hand he figured he deserved it from all of the time that he had mentioned Luther that day. "Why didn't you just wake me up earlier?"

Hiei's face gained a little color from the question and, much to Kurama's amusement, he looked away in favor of the window seal. "Well, I find that a sleeping Kurama is much more tolerable than a conscious one because the conscious one just loves to use his big mouth."

Kurama smiled and moved a little closer to Hiei, until he was only inches away from his ear. "You don't like it when I use my mouth, Hiei?" Kurama whispered before giving Hiei a kiss on his earlobe.

* * *

Shuuichi had in fact lied to his parents. He had no intention to; when he went to the festival yesterday his plans were clear. He was going to have fun with his friends, kiss his girlfriend, find his big brother and then go home. Nothing went as planned though, his friends had ditched him to play some lame game to get goldfish, his girlfriend ended up dumping him, and his brother had been nowhere in sight. When he had gotten home, he decided that he wouldn't ruin his brother's obvious great afternoon just because he had a bad one.

He was happy that his brother had manged to not get in trouble, but he really wanted to know what he had been doing out so late. He knew that he wouldn't be doing anything bad, but his curious nature was getting to him. He left his room and made his way to Kurama's, hoping that his brother was awake by then.

When he got a bit closer, he heard his brother's voice. Was he talking to himself or something? He crept closer, trying to be as quiet as possible. Then, he heard a deeper voice speaking right after him. Who else could be in there? It couldn't be his dad, he was in his room with his mom. He could barely make out what they were saying to one another; he moved closer, hoping to hear something, anything.

"...Like it when I use my mouth, Hiei?"

Shuuichi's ear perked up. What did he just say? He suddenly had the feeling that he was invading on something that was supposed to be private... He continued listening.

"All depends on what you're using it for."

Shuuichi lingered at the edge of the door and listened closer.

"I use it for a lot of things."

"I know."

"What's your favorite?"

Shuuichi heard a dark chuckle from the deeper voiced man and then he spoke again.

"I like a lot of things that you do with your mouth."

Shuuichi suppressed a gasp. At that point he heard someone coming up behind him, but he didn't even turn around, he was much to enamored by his big brother's conversation.

"Son, what are you--" Kazuyu spoke, but quickly stopped himself when he realized what his son had been doing. He was about to scold him when he heard the a deep voice coming from his step-son's room. He joined his son at the side of the door.

"Like what?"

"I love it when you use your mouth to moan, I love it when you use it kiss and I especially love it when you use it to-- suck."

Kazuyu and his son both openly gasped, only not loud enough to spark attention from the lovers.

"I expected that response from you."

"But, I still can't decided which is my favorite."

"Well, I like kissing the best."

"I'm sure you do. But, I think I want a couple of demonstrations before I chose my favorite."

They all heard Kurama give a deep chuckle and they both moved closer to slightly cracked door. Shuuichi was practically leaning on it and his father joined him right at his back. The pair then heard yet another person approaching, who else would it be but Shiori?

She walked toward them with a scowl on her face, she was outraged that he two immature guys would sit there and eavesdrop on her son's conversation. She was about to start yell at them, but she was stopped by her husband pulling her closer to the door and making her listen.

"Oh no. If I start doing any of those things that's going to put you in _mood_,"

The scene was quiet or a while, before they heard Kurama laughing again.

"Don't give me the look, Hiei. I know that look."

"What look," It was silent again for a while again before the deep voice spoke again. "You mean this look?"

"No, seriously, stop! I will give in to that look and you know my family and everyone are only a couple of feet away from us," The three people's breath caught in their throats. "In their rooms, I can't do it."

They all sighed in relief.

"What's the problem, I'll be quiet and so will you. They won't hear us."

"But, Hiei..."

"What?"

"I'm still sore from last night."

Shiori gasped loudly, startling her husband who ended up jumping and knocking into his son. His son lost his footing and crashed into the door, pushing it open and exposing the three eavesdroppers.

* * *

_Sorry this took so long. _

_I hope it was enjoyable. _

_Thanks for reading.  
_


	17. Chapter 16

* * *

Youkai Orpheus

Chapter 16

* * *

Kurama stared wide-eyed at his currently indisposed family, all of them looking shocked and guilty at their intrusion and sudden exposure . The trio scrambled out of the room, but did not move from in front of the door. Shiori stood there with her jaw hardened and scowl firmly set on her face; but, surprisingly enough, her stare was set on Hiei.

Hiei did not hesitate to return her stony gaze; he knew her as Kurama's mother but he also knew her as his rival for Kurama's unconditional love. So, if she wanted to start this staring game he would gladly go along with it.

Kurama stared between the two and heaved a sigh. The silence was unbearable, no one wanted to say anything and no one wanted to move. It was all eerie silence around them and no one wanted to break it, and despite Kurama's embarrassment he knew that the only reason all of these people were in his room was because of him. So, he had to break it.

"Mother--I--" Kurama began.

Shiori sighed and waved her arm at Kurama. "Please, can we speak about this downstairs?"

Kurama nodded pitifully. His mother and brother left the room after that while his stepfather stopped to give him an apologetic shrug before leaving as well.

When they were gone, Kurama shut the door and turned to the still scowling Hiei, "Hiei, why did you have to be so loud?"

Hiei looked affronted, "Me? You were loud _and_ you were the one who started the sex talk in the first place."

"I was not the one that started it, it was you."

Hiei rolled his eyes, but decided not to humor Kurama with the argument that he so desperately wanted. "Well, either way you're the one who is about get yelled at, not me."

Kurama frowned, obviously upset that Hiei had actually made a point. He walked until he was in front of Hiei, who was still crouching on the window seal, and bent down onto his knees, sending a poignant look his way.

Hiei gazed at Kurama with a questioning expression, but was secretly delighted with the position that he was in.

"So, what, you're going to ravish me _after_ you've been caught?" Hiei asked.

Kurama playfully slapped Hiei's knee and shook his head. A small smile graced his face ( and warmed Hiei's heart) as he shiftily rubbed the spot on Hiei's knee where he had struck just seconds before. "No, we don't have the time. Maybe later, much... later."

Hiei scowled. It was always Ningens who ruined his fun, and Kurama was always letting them.

Kurama stood from his spot between Hiei's legs and grinned at him. "I guess," He said uneasily. "It's time to face the music."

Hiei raised his eyebrows and shrugged, appearing nonchalant. He did not want to let Kurama know that he was amused just yet, he would wait until later to piss him off. "Stupid fox," Hiei murmured. Then raising his voice, he said "Do you want me to wait up here?"

"No," Kurama replied immediately. "I don't want to be in any more trouble than I'm in now. Leaving you up here will probably just make my mother angrier."

Hiei stood on the very edge of the window sill and ducked his head on the other side of it. "Alright, I'm leaving."

Kurama gave him an apologetic smile. He really felt bad about kicking him out this way, but he knew Hiei understood, though, by his willingness to leave. What an understanding lover he had!

"Come back later today, alright." Kurama said.

Hiei nodded and in a blink of the eye he was gone.

* * *

By the time Kurama made it down stairs, his living room had made a complete transformation. It was like a interrogation room! Kurama's mother stood there with her arms crossed and the same scowl from the first confrontation on her face. His step-father and brother stood in the corner, both of them looking like beaten dogs. The lights were dimmed to an almost eerie low and the shadows that danced on the walls flickered uneasily with every step that Kurama took. As he drew nearer, his mother's lips grew more and more compressed before they appeared to barely be there.

At first, no one said a word. Kurama stood there with his hands hidden deep within his pockets and his eyes scanning the floor, searching for anything half as interesting as his mother's scowl.

"...Shuichi." His mother's stern voice jolted him away from the shiny floor.

"Yes mother?"

"Do you have anything to say?"

Kurama shook his head and looked at the ground again.

Shiori sighed. "I'm not angry with you, Shuichi."

Kurama raised his brows and dropped his mouth a bit. "Really?"

"I'm just so..." She ran her fingers through her hair. "Why didn't you tell me you were dating someone."

Kurama shrugged. "I don't know. It just happened recently."

"How recent." She replied, her voice appearing sharper than she intended.

"Almost a month ago," he said. "when I got back from my trip to Europe."

Shiori sat down on the couch and rolled her eyes to the back of her head. "And how long have the two of you been... intimate."

Kurama felt his face redden considerably, this was not a conversation that he pictured having with his mother. "Only once." Well, technically twice; but there was no point in getting so specific.

Shiori nodded slowly as if she understood. "You used protection, correct?"

Kurama heaved a heavy sigh and dropped his gaze to the ground. He was not going to lie to his mother about it even though, technically, there was no way she could find out that it was a lie. A couple of moments later he shook his head.

"Shuichi," She started, but quickly stopped herself to adjust her stern voice. "I thought you were much more responsible than this."

Kurama looked at his step-father for help, but the man averted his eyes and frowned. Kurama exhale and shrugged like child who was being asked why he stole a snack from the pantry.

"To be... intimate with someone without taking some kind of precaution. Especially someone who you've only known for a month." Shiori complained.

"No," Kurama cut in. "I've known Hiei for years. I trust him very much."

Shiori frowned disapprovingly and glowered at Kurama, with a hurt and confusion in her dark eyes. "Why have I never met him?"

"Hiei doesn't live near here mother, I rarely see him and when I do it's never for a long time. I didn't think it was necessary to introduce him to you."

"Why didn't you introduce him to us a month ago? As soon as you got back from the trip?" She asked.

"Hiei left as soon as we got back here, he had to go home."

The questions went on this way for the next fifteen minutes. Shiori wanted to learn Kurama's excuses for everything and every little detail of his and Hiei's meetings. And after the questions were over the lectures began. That, in Kurama's opinion, was the most unbearable part of the conversation. He was over one thousand years old, he did not want to listen to a lecture about sex. Sex, something that he had been doing since he was less than a third her age. But, he did listen to her with begrudging acceptance. After maybe half an hour of listening to his mother's rants, though, she did let him go; but not without some parting advice.

"So remember, the very next time that you have sex with your boyfriend or any other boy, Our Higher deities forbid, make sure to use a condom, okay?" he nodded silently and immediately afterward his sweet, wonderful, rose-in-the-cheek mother was back and she was beaming at him. "Maybe you would like to invite Hiei for dinner sometime... we would love to have him."

* * *

Hiei stayed for about a week after that night. He slept at the temple with Genkai and Yukina, but spent most of his time waiting outside of Kurama's school because when he got out, he would whisk him away to their spot in the forest and indulge him in many replays of that warm night underneath the trees. But, there were many differences now. Neither of them were allowed to sleep after their 'love' sessions because Kurama's mother had forbade him from staying out past nine o'clock at night. Hiei did not like that new rule at all, and he expressed that by trying on various occasions to soothe Kurama to sleep, but it rarely worked. And, after the third day of the week Hiei's activities stopped all together when Kurama told him that if he missed his curfew he wouldn't be allowed to stay out with him anymore.

Another difference was the use of the condom. Hiei was a very reluctant participant in this practice. He did not think that it was necessary to make him wear some latex substance on himself just to make Kurama's "idiot" mother feel better. But, eventually he agreed to this. But, just about every time they finished "doing the do" Hiei would began to complain about the fact that the condom stopped him from marking his fox with his "essence".

In other news, that gift that Kurama got from Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous turned out to be the first of many. Every single day for the entire week that Hiei was there, he got a new gift that ranged from flowers and chocolates to books and CDs; one day he had even gotten cake, cake that he had shared with Hiei later that day. His mother was practically gushing about all of the gifts, thinking that it was exclusively from her baby's new boyfriend. His step-father watched the new developments with amusement and picked fun with Kurama as much. But, his brother shared his consensus. That the whole situation was really creepy.

Not that Kurama wasn't flattered and if his admirer turned out to be some obsessed sophomore in his high school, he might actually indulge the kid. But, he had a feeling that there was only one person who he had ever known who was this determined when it came to him. And the thought of _that_ man knowing where he and his family was frightened him.

* * *

His fears, however, were put to rest a couple of days later when he came home early from school with no Hiei in sight. He was approaching his home when he saw a young girl, not appearing to be any older than thirteen, placing a heavy looking box on his front step. The girl wore a baseball cap, but it barely covered her wildly flailing dark hair which waved all over the place as she struggled with the box. The poor girl stumbled along so much in one place that Kurama thought she was folk dancing.

He walked a bit closer to the young girl, but remained quiet enough for the groaning girl to ignore him effectively. Eventually, the elegantly wrapped box got the best of the thin girl and she nearly came crashing down. Luckily for her, Kurama did not have the heart to watch her break her neck for his sake and he caught her in his arms. The girl's hat and the unfortunate box fell to the ground. The inner contents of the box sounded like they broke, but the girl appeared to be okay and so was her hat.

"Are you alright?"

The spaced out girl looked up at Kurama and her crystal blue eyes immediately lit up at the sight of him. She smiled. "Wow, you sure are hot. No wonder he sends you so many gifts."

Kurama frowned. So this girl wasn't the one sending the gifts, she worked simply as the deliverer, the messenger, if you will. Then who was this 'he' who was sending all of these gifts... the evidence was really starting to add up. He lifted the girl back up so that she was standing on her own two feet and then he handed her her hat.

"Thank you, sir." She said as she placed her hat back on her head.

"Your welcome," Kurama said cautiously. "So, what are you doing here?"

The young girl smiled before answering him. "I'm getting paid 1000 yen, just to deliver these presents to you."

Kurama looked at the girl as if he was expecting more information. When he got none, he cleared his throat and pressed on. "Who?"

"Who what?"

Kurama rolled his eyes into the back of his head before reminding himself that he was talking to a thirteen year-old girl and straightening his face again. "Who sent you?"

"Oh," She piped up with a smile on her face. She stood there for a while, thinking about it apparently, before frowning. "I can't tell you."

Kurama crossed his arms. "Why not?"

"He told me not to. He is probably shy or something... but, I think he really loves you." She teased.

"Oh really?"

"Yep, he every time he sends for me all he can talk about is you. He talks all the time about carrying you off with him, to forever make you his lover," She gushed. "he's so romantic."

Kurama frowned, all of this sounded oh-so-familiar. "Could you send him a message for me?"

The girl's face lit up. "Sure, no problem."

"Tell whoever this man is to make his presence known if he expects to ride off into the sunset anywhere with me." Kurama spat.

"But, I already told you mister, he's too shy." She said.

Kurama bit down on his bottom lip and turned his head away from the naive girl. "What's your name."

She was beaming again in an instant. "It's Emi!"

"Emi, if he's too shy then tell him to leave me alone." Kurama said haughtily before abandoning the young girl and walking to his house.

Emi pouted and placed her hands on her hips as she watched the irritated red head walk away. "You sure are mean, mister."

"I know..." Kurama mumbled when he reached his house.

* * *

"Damn..." Hiei moaned out as he released yet another wave of himself into the latex barrier protecting Kurama from yet another sexual marking. He slowly pulled out of the exhausted fox and fell to the side of him. Boy, was he going to miss this when he went away again. He hadn't told Kurama yet, but Mukuro had called for him and she expected him back that very night. He glanced at Kurama's sweaty, but satisfied face and fought a frown. He missed him already.

Kurama's voice tore Hiei from his thoughts. "You know, the funniest thing happened to me today."

Usually, Hiei liked to ignore most of the mindless dribble that Kurama would tell him after they've had sex; but since this would be the last time that he could listen for the next couple of weeks he decided to give it a shot.

"What?"

Kurama grinned. "I found the person who has been delivering me gifts all week."

Hiei's slightly wavering attention shot to fox at the mention of the secret admirer of Kurama's. He had been concerned about the situation for a while now, and it wasn't just his jealous nature speaking. He had the same fears as Kurama, what if Luther really did follow them all the way back. And he knew where Kurama's family was... the thought worried him almost as much as it worried Kurama.

Though, he wouldn't be as worried if he didn't have to leave so suddenly.

"Turned out to be a little girl named Emi delivering them for some 'shy' man," he said. He shifted his gaze to Hiei and smiled. "I suppose that rules Luther out."

Hiei sneered. "Why?"

"When has Luther ever been shy Hiei. I suppose that if it was really him he would have made his presence known by now," Kurama said. He continued on when he noticed the uncertainty on Hiei's face. "You know how Luther is."

"No, I don't." Hiei mumbled.

"Well, I do. And I think --"

"No, you don't either. Everything that you did know about the guy was a lie and you know it."

Kurama sighed and turned away, begrudgingly admitting to himself that Hiei was right. But, he was not going to let him know that.

"But, I know his methods," Kurama said curtly. "I know them first hand and from what we have heard from Koenma."

Hiei rolled his eyes and turned away from Kurama, still feeling a bit bitten from the way that Kurama had turned away from him, and spoke slowly. "We could all be wrong," he said. "It's not like he has never sent you flowers before."

"That is true. But, that _was_ when he was trying to woo me, I doubt he sees a reason to do so anymore. He doesn't love me enough to pursue me twice."

"Maybe he loves you more than you thought." Hiei said. He knew he sounded jealous but he thought he deserved at least that; besides, if it was the other way around he knew that Kurama would feel the exact same way.

"Perhaps."

Neither of them spoke for a while, they were both spending time trying to calm themselves down so as to not snap at the other. Hiei desperately wanted to say something to hurt Kurama's feelings, though, just so that he could know how he feels when all of their conversations go back to Luther.

"I'm leaving tonight." Hiei said shortly.

Kurama's attention went to Hiei then. He completely turned over to face his lover with a guilty expression on his face. "You're not leaving because of me are you."

Hiei turned over to face Kurama after hearing how pathetic his voice sounded. He shook his head. "No, Mukuro wants me back for a couple of weeks."

Kurama pouted. "Oh," The red-head then smiled and placed his hand on Hiei's shoulder. "I knew all of this fun we've been having was too good to last forever."

Hiei chuckled. "Yeah," he said as he reached over and placed his hand on the back of Kurama's neck. "But, that doesn't mean we have to end it right now." He said as he pulled Kurama into a kiss.

* * *

"Oh my," Kurama moaned pathetically while clutching his stomach. A wave of cramps had come over him on his way home from school; he had barely been able to walk the rest of the way. His brother practically had to drag him the rest of the way home and sit him on the steps. That's where he is now, on the steps with his head in between his legs, his brother rubbing his back, both of them waiting for one of the parents to get home so that they can help because frankly, his brother had no idea of what to do and Kurama was to hurt to think straight.

"Do you need any water, Shuichi?" His well-meaning brother asked him.

Kurama shook his head and continued to rock onto his stomach.

"Shuichi!" Kurama heard a high pitched screech coming from his walkway. He looked up and rolled his eyes at the sight in front of him. It was that girl, Emi, again. Had he not just seen her yesterday, why did she have to show up when he was in pain?

When the girl was a few feet in front of them, Kurama's little brother hooped up and held out his hand to the girl in a shy manner. Even with stomach ache, he could tell that his brother had a crush on the loud girl.

"H-hi!" His brother said quietly.

Emi smiled and shook his hand before focusing her attention on Kurama. "Hi again."

Kurama glanced at his dejected brother, and frowned. "Emi, how do you know my name?"

Emi presented a small envelope. "I read the name on your letter," She moved the paper close to her face. "To Shuichi, it says." She handed the envelope to Kurama and smiled.

Kurama took it from her and forced a smile. "So, this is all that he sent me today?"

"Yep," she said. "He said that the letter will be a good enough present for you today. Tomorrow you will be presented with something much bigger."

Kurama nodded and then looked at his brother, giving him an expression that said 'go for it'. His brother understood immediately and then proceeded to try to indulge the girl in conversation.

While they were distracted, Kurama decided that this would be as good a time as any to peer into his letter. A letter that would hopefully give him some insight into who this admirer/ stalker really was. He opened the letter hastily, ignoring his stomach ache for a while, and began to read:

* * *

_Kurama, It has been a while since we have spoken; believe it or not, I have missed you terribly and I'm sure you have missed me too. I hope you have liked the gifts that I had sent to you, I thought they were all in good taste especially when I consider your interest my lovely little cherub._

_Anyway, I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that I have been getting stronger, and so has my box. With the way that things are going now, we should be able to go away with each other soon and live out our life of leisure._

_It will be perfect, my love._

_My dear, I would really like to speak to you soon. Would you mind setting up a date that we can meet? I would set a date myself, but I want it to work for you as well as me._

_I hope to see you soon, Kurama._

_I love you._

_

* * *

  
_

Kurama felt the dull ache in his stomach increase ten-fold, but he barely noticed it. It was Luther. No one else but Luther had ever called him cherub before and no one else bragged about taking him away as much as Luther, especially not to live a life of leisure. So, Luther knew where he and his family was after all. The thought of Luther with his family-- if he was to hurt them--

"So, do you want me to tell him anything?" Emi asked while sporting a toothy grin.

Kurama stared at her intensely and nodded. His gaze fell to the letter in his hands and he sighed, but did not speak; his brother and the girl both looked at him expectantly. "Tell him... tell him that I don't want to meet him ever! Tell him to leave me and my family alone!"

Kurama got up from his seat on the stairs while still clutching his stomach. He limped into his house with naught but one thought running through his head.

_What am I going to do?_

* * *

I apologize for how long this took.

These past few months have been terrible. My mommy made me get two jobs, so I'm working almost everyday.

Sucky, but I'll try to make the next update speedier.


	18. Chapter 17

* * *

Youkai Orpheus

Chapter 17

* * *

Kurama tramped to Yusuke's house in a daze with the small piece of paper belonging to his tormentor still tightly constricted in his fingers as endless questions hunted his thoughts. How had Luther found him? And how long had he been here? Had he been watching Kurama all of this time? And if so, why hadn't he directly confronted him? Why did he choose to communicate with him through gifts and love letters?

The situation was baffling. Kurama was usually very good at tapping into a person's thoughts and inner desires by observing their actions and reactions and very rarely was he ever wrong in his interpretations. But, never had someone's psyche been so twisted; so packed with good intentions but so damaged with heinous acts that not even Kurama could figure out what he would do next or when he was finally going to snap. All that Kurama did know, however, was that he had to find him and stop him before someone was hurt.

Kurama placed his hand on his stomach, the queasiness had come back again. When his mother arrived home again after work the previous day she had seen Kurama's state and immediately sent him to bed after loading him up on almost every numbing drug that they had in the house. It hadn't worked at the time, but when he finally took a nap- which lasted well into the next afternoon- and woke up, it was gone. He tried not to feel worried, he simply insisted that it was anxiety about this whole stupid situation. Besides, it had been happening on and off for a while now, and it seemed that no amount of drugs could do anything to quench it.

Kurama spotted a wooded area off to his side and convinced himself to take a really short rest until the pain subsided. He gave his stomach and encouraging squeeze and limped over to the small patch of grass. He forced his way into a sitting position and lay his back limply on a tree. He was really hurting, he barely noticed the strange looks that he was getting from the people who were walking by, not that he particularly cared. He tightened his grip on his stomach when he felt another stab at his gut.

What was happening to him? It felt like something was eating at his insides. Was it trying to kill him? Whatever it was…

Kurama laced his fingers into his red hair and released a silent moan.

A couple, noticing his discomfort, came up to him holding hands and question him about whether or not he was okay. Kurama forced a smile on to his face and waved his hand while not trying to seem pathetic.

"I'm fine, sir and mam'." Kurama made his voice sound calmer than he felt.

"Are you sure son?" The older man asked.

Kurama nodded and smiled, he struggled off of the ground and leaned heavily on the tree. When he lifted his arm to push himself off of it, the note slid out of his hand and blew back through the woods behind him. Kurama groaned, but still smiled at the couple to lessen their fears.

"Would you like one of us to get that for you.

Kurama shook his head. "No, don't worry about it." He did not want them to see what was in that note, it was embarrassing enough without this lovey-dovey couple getting involved.

The couple looked on at him, worried, but they didn't say anything until they noticed Kurama's reliance on the tree.

"Kid just forget about the paper, we'll take you to the hospital ." The middle-aged women said; the worry that she held for him was undeniable and honest. But, he shook it off, he needed that note and he did not want to be fussed over by some folks that he didn't even know.

Kurama continued limping behind the trees and into the woods, leaving the worried couple behind. He would soon exit the woods and put on a straight face for them and send them on their merry way as the happy couple that they are.

Kurama felt bitterness cloud over his pain as he glanced back at the two again. Even in their distress, they looked happy. They looked so perfect for each other, they probably have never been away from each other. Hell, they were probably married or engaged. They really love each other. That is what Kurama could read from them, much more than he could read for himself and Hiei, because, of course, Hiei was not there.

The pain of the separation was finally getting to missed seeing Hiei everyday; he missed the sound of his voice, the smell his hair, the taste his lips, and especially his warm touch. It was frustrating.

Dismissing his melancholy thoughts for a while, Kurama broke out into a jog and spotted the paper. He snatched it up when he was close enough, but fell back on a tree for lack of support and because his stomach pains were getting worse by the moment. A sudden spasm in his stomach caused Kurama to double over and cough onto the ground. He felt so tortured, what was really happening to him?

He felt Luther's letter slide from his grip and onto the dusty earth beneath him, but he was much to weak to retrieve it.

Kurama threw his head back onto the bark and sighed when the massive pain in his abdomen was gone, simmering down to a faint tingling. But, Kurama's luck seemed to be running thin when the same tingle was felt in his head. In an instant, the tingles turned into pricks and the pricks turned into burns and the burns were enough to make Kurama release a soft cry.

He hated it when that happened, whenever those bizarre pains made it to his skull he knew it was about time for a shut down.

A hallow whisper played in Kurama's ear like a broken record, calming him down. He allowed his head to fall limp onto the tree trunk as the voice lulled him to unconciousness.

Rest, it said. Rest.

* * *

"Kurama, Kurama wake up."

Kurama groaned and slapped his hand on his forehead. His headache had, luckily, dissipated and, like usual, everything seemed normal. Kurama forced his eyes open to observe the figure in front of him, and he was some what relieved to find who it was.

"Pace."

There he stood, one of the remaining four wolf tribe members. He did not look any different than the first time that Kurama saw him; he was still short with the same dark hair and light eyes, a piece of grass balancing in his teeth. But something was a little off, Pace looked troubled. Kurama was going to find out why, but only after he found out the location of his current tormentor.

The speedy wolf demon smirked at the mention of his name and stepped a couple of inches closer. "Kurama," he rubbed his chin and observed the fox demon closely before smiling in approval. "You look good, as always-"

"Thank you."

"-Although you do look a little pale."

Kurama slapped his hand onto his cheek and rubbed it. He had noticed the paleness of his skin early, one day when he looked into the mirror the previous rich skin tone of his had left him and was replaced with a dank almost ashen crust. The next day it had gone back to normal, but it had only been a downward spiral since then; his skin seemed to get whiter and whiter as the days went by. His classmates had taken notice, but they would not dare mention it. Teachers had noticed, but they must have passed it off as stress of final exams because they did not say anything either. Even his mother thought it was something he would recover from in time. Pace was the first person to mention it so bluntly. Kurama was offended! But his respect for the wolf demon was growing.

"Where is he?"

Pace smirked. "Where is who?" Pace asked mockingly as he popped another piece of grass in his mouth. "You're going to have to be a little more explicit with your questions, I'm afraid my head is not with me at the moment."

Kurama bit down on the side of his bottom lip, hard, in order to stop himself from barking out, "Luther."

"Oh yes- Luther. Well," Pace scratched his chin. "He's not here."

Kurama scowled and wrapped his arms tightly across his chest. "Pace, this is not a joke."

"I'm not joking, I honestly have not seen him in days," Pace said. "He left a couple of days ago, apparently he had something to take care of that didn't require me."

"Do you know when he'll be back?"

Pace shook his head. "Look, all I know that's any business of yours is that he is planning something that involves you."

Kurama frowned as he wrapped his arms around himself. He could not fight the tremble that ran up his spine at the very thought of Luther's plans. "Do you at least know what that is?"

Pace sighed and shook his head again. "No, Luther has been very secretive lately. He won't tell any of us anything. Which means… which means it's bad."

Kurama nodded. His mind wandered back to his home, where his mother was probably cooking dinner, while his father lazed about watching TV. His little brother listening to Cds and reading dirty magazines. He couldn't bare it if anything happened to them. He didn't care if Luther gutted him and hung him dry, as long as he didn't hurt his family.

"My family… has he mentioned them?"

"No, but I don't think he exactly plans to leave them alone," Pace said. "Your best bet would be to lure him away from them some how."

"You mean, to leave?"

"Yes. He will follow you without a second thought. That is if you can get away fast enough, before he really does go after those humans." Pace spit the grass out of his mouth and swatted at the worry lines on his face. "Only, I can't say what he'll do to you when he catches you."

Kurama chuckled despite himself. "Perhaps he'll take me on a romantic cruise and then drop me off the boat."

Pace laughed. "Perhaps… or he'll watch for you to die."

Kurama eyed Pace suspiciously and stepped closer. "What do you mean by that?"

"He's already killing you, Kurama," Pace said. "Look at you, I…" He trailed off.

Kurama opened his mouth to speak but Pace interrupted.

"You'll get answers soon enough, but I have to go…" Pace turned to make his speedy exit.

"Wait!" Kurama moved a couple of steps closer to him. "Why are you helping me?"

Pace twisted his head to look at Kurama and smiled. "You are by far the most interesting of all of Luther's conquests, I like you." He turned away from Kurama with one last smirk and then he was gone.

* * *

"How the hell did he follow us back here?"

Kurama cringed at how loud Yusuke was being. He snatched his letter out of his hands and tucked it away in his pocket.

"It doesn't matter Yusuke," Kurama murmured.

Yusuke nodded and looked to Kuwabara for any indication that he knew what to say. He didn't.

"So… what do we do?" Kuwabara asked.

"It's simple, we find him and we kill him."

"It's not that simple," Kurama said. "He's got something else under his sleeve." _He's already killing you, Kurama. _

"What?"

Kurama heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head. "I don't know."

Yusuke plopped down on the couch and buried his face in his hands. "So," He said. "What do you think we should do Kurama?"

Kurama looked at Yusuke as if he had not expected him to ask. He frowned and sat down on the couch beside him, Kuwabara following soon after, and thought. He had not realized he hadn't come up with a plan before he got here.

"I don't think we should go looking for him," Kurama said.

Kurama could feel their eyes on him, in shock probably. Kurama inhaled and began to explain himself, "He expects that from us, he'll just keep hiding until he decides it is time to show himself." Kurama bit the inside of his cheek. "If we keep to ourselves and ignore him he'll show up faster. He'll come to us." _Me… _

"That's crazy Kurama!"

"And when he does show himself, I'll leave here. Go to America or Europe again, at least until we can find a way to get that weapon out of his hands."

"Kurama!"

After a couple more minutes of convincing, Yusuke and Kuwabara agreed with Kurama. They were going to lay low for a while, but stay on guard and keep in close contact just in case one of the Wolf Tribe showed themselves. They hadn't mentioned Hiei at all. They all figured he was too busy in Makai, and even though he would like nothing more than to kill Luther himself, they decided they would tell him if things got very desperate.

They followed their plan for a month and Luther had not shown himself.

* * *

Kurama sat down at the family table with his head buried in his hands. What a headache! Kurama shook it off, literally, and straightened himself in his seat. His family joined him at the table shortly afterwards.. Kazuyu and Shuuichi were both fairly oblivious to Kurama's condition, but Shiori's eyes were worried as she laid their food out. When she sat down they all silently began eating, Kurama's father and brother chatting along happily about their jobs and school.

Kurama and his mother sat in silence.

No leads… He did not understand it. Kurama hadn't seen or heard from Pace since that day, but he was sure that Luther was back; Emi had practically told him during her frequent visits to his home. She had brought exactly 43 presents to his house to date and he was running out of room for it all. He would have thrown it away but his mom had chastised him when he mentioned it, claiming that it would be rude.

"Shuichi!"

Kurama looked at his father in confusion and frowned. "What?"

"I've called you like 20 times and you're just now noticing. Are you okay?"

A small smile formed on his face as he nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just not all here right now."

His father smirked knowingly and took a small bite of his rice cake. "Thinking about your boyfriend, huh?"

"Kazyu!" Shiori snapped.

Kurama and his brother chuckled under their breath before Kurama shook his head. "No, not today."

Shiori, miraculously interested in the conversation, spoke next. "You haven't mentioned him much at all Shuichi. How has he been?"

Kurama shrugged. Usually he hated to share his personal life with his family, they would always ask a number of unnecessary questions and pry and pry until they got whatever it was they wanted. It was bad enough when he was a child and his mother had to do it by herself; now that she had a partner in crime it got a while lot more annoying and difficult to elude them. But, Kurama was happy for the momentary distractions from his psychotic stalker, even if it brought him to the dim subject of Hiei's extended absence.

"Hiei is missing in action, right now."

"Missing? Did something happen to him?" Kurama's "so intelligent" brother asked.

Kurama released a short laugh. "No, he's just not here."

Shiori's face suddenly puckered her nose and shook her head. "Are you sure you want to be with some one who lives so far away. Why not date that nice boy?"

"Nice boy? Stalker, you mean." Kazuyu remarked.

"Oh, pah! Whoever this boy is Shuichi, I think he would make a really good match for you -" She stops when she sees the look that her husband is giving her. "I know I don't know him… but he has spent so much money on all of these presents. It seems like the least Shuichi could do is give him a chance, at least until Hiei comes back."

Kurama chuckled nervously, if only they really knew Luther. Hell, they might love him at first, but Kurama had as well and look where that got him. "No mother, I think I'm just going to wait this one out. He'll lose interest soon."

"Well, alright; if you really want to stay faithful, who am I to stop you?" Shiori said.

Kazuyu laughed, which by the chameleon effect, everyone else at the table laughed as well. Kurama laughed just as well as everyone at first but he knew it wouldn't last. He could barely speak without his voice catching. Kurama burst into loud wheezing coughs right there at the dining table. Kurama just wanted to die! He had never allowed such a thing to happen in front of his parents, now his germs were probably on everyone's food and they knew he was sick…

Kurama looked at his parents expectantly. They were all wearing the same worry expressions on their faces; Kurama buried his face in his hands an roughly wiped it. It was only a matter of time before they realized how sick he was getting.

"Shuichi, are you-"

A vase laded on the kitchen table with a resounding thud before shattering into pieces, landing in the lap of the four inhabitants. They all shot up and stepped away from the table, only Kurama remained to inspect the damage. It had been a vase of black roses, which were now spread all over the table. Had Emi done this? Kurama shook his head, why should she? She respected Kurama and she definitely had a crush on his brother. But, then that only left Luther. Kurama grabbed at the only flower that had a note wrapped around it and quickly unbounded the note and read it, ignoring the questions and concern from his parents and brother.

_The alley next to the flower shop. _

_Now._

_--- Luther. _

Kurama scowled at the note. Who had the nerve to demand him when he should show up anywhere? If Kurama hadn't been curious he would have been angered by Luther's flagrant behavior. Without thinking twice, Kurama headed toward the door with the note firmly grasped in between his fingers.

"Shuichi, where are you going? We have to call the cops and clean up this mess." Shiori's voice jolted Kurama away from his mission.

"I'll be right back, Mother. I'm going to put an end to this."

Shiori placed her hand on her son's shoulder and shook her head. "No! I forbid it! It could be dangerous."

Kurama gave her a reassuring smile and pulled her into a short hug. Then he was out of the house. He knew that he had not convinced his mother, and she would be sending the brigade (His father and brother) after him.

He was gone as soon as they stepped out of the house.

* * *

Kurama walked into the alley with a rose encircled firmly in his long, nimble fingers. There was no telling if this was the correct alleyway seeing as Luther had not been kind enough to be explicit in his directions. But, Kurama figured the wolf demon would find him. Kurama leaned against the wall, resting his head on the moist brick, and waited however long it took.

"A rose, is that for me?"

Kurama stood up straight and observed the man who was slowly descending from the shadows of the alleyway. He could already feel his energy getting lower, obviously Sir Luther still had the box in his possesion. Similar to Pace, he did not look much different except in a vague way (very vague in Kurama's opinion). His bright eyes still shone but with less intensity, his lips looked dry and his jaw was set despite the easy smile on his face. Luther stopped a good amount of paces away from him tucks his hand back so that it was resting firmly on his sword hilt.

"Yes... I thought it would make a good farewell gift."

Kurama focused all of his energy on the small rose in his hand and it whipped it out. He watched as it elongated with no issue and lashed out at Luther's grinning face. He hadn't believed Luther would allow it to get so close, but it had been a nose away from him when he whipped out his sword. To his suprise the whip didn't break nor did it break Luther's sword. They seemed to counteract each other and the friction caused the end of the whip to wrap around the sword in a practically unbreakable force.

"Looks like we're stuck together Kurama," Luther said brashly.

Kurama growled and pulled without effect at his whip. It wouldn't budge; Luther had a firm grip and he wasn't letting go. Kurama decided not to contract his whip and, knowing that if he did he would be completely defenseless against the insane demon; he simply hardened his grip on his rose whip and scowled.

"What do you want Luther?" He asked Luther in a hiss.

"Nothing but you, my little cherub."

Kurama cringes at hearing the hated noun from the mouth of the man who had introduced it to him in the first place. "Don't call me that!" He yanked at his rose whip. "Listen, I'm going to tell you this one time... leave me and my family alone."

"Your Family?" Luther sounded offended. "Why I haven't done anything to your family. And I don't plan to; but your friends..."

Kurama's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Well, your friends are of less importance to you than your family; in addition to that, I hate your friends especially that Hiei," Luther sneered. "I've decided that that very annoying ones shall go first, I've already got one going for a leisurely swim in your local pond."

"Who?"

"Oh, I don't know. That annoying little female who delivered for me."

Kurama opened his mouth and quickly shut it tight, he could barely form words. All he could do was mournfully mouth the word 'Emi'. She was completely innocent, she was young and she was dead. Kurama had not even felt this bad when he had personally gotten Grubby killed; that man had been evil, he had killed humans and demons alike. Emi had not done anything, but she was killed by this monster. His jaw clenched when he decided to look at Luther again, who was still wearing the same easy smile.

Kurama shook his head, disbelief washing over his face. "How," Kurama muttered.

"I love you so much, you're so beautiful when you're upset."

"You're crazy."

Luther threw his head back and laughed out loud. "I've had many tell me such things in the past; and honestly I think I am beginning to believe it myself." Luther looks down and Kurama thinks he sees just a bit of uncertainty or vulnerability in his eyes before he looks back up and smiles again. "But, what does it matter. You shall love me forever, right."

"Luther, my feelings toward you do not even resemble love. It never did."

Luther released a short laugh and then did something that confused even Kurama. He jutted out his hand and snaked it around Kurama's whip, only wincing slightly when the thorns dug into his skin and caused blood to spill from it. He pulled at the whip, catching Kurama completely off guard and causing him to move along with it. He only manages to dig his heels in the ground when he was a few feet away from his aggressive but tough (even though Kurama would never admit it) tormentor.

"Of course you love me, how could you not?"

"Easy."

Luther's wrinkled his nose and knotted his thick eyebrows, tugging yet again on the whip. Kurama flew along with it, but dug his feet in the ground again; when he looked up he gasped. Luther's face was as flushed as a tomato and his lips were sunk in so deep that he was creating lines like twisted scars on his chin. Kurama shivered involuntarily and tried to step away, but was pulled promptly back.

"Listen Kurama! The joke's over; can you please just leave with me?" Luther begged.

Kurama shook his head and yanked at the rope. "Luther, I'm not leaving with you," Kurama surprised even himself with how level he kept his voice.

"Yes you are."

Kurama sighed. In a way he pitied the warped mind that Luther had, it wasn't his fault. If he could just reach him in some way, get into his head, he knew he might have a chance to get him to leave. They both tightened their holds on the whip and Kurama began speaking.

"Listen Luther, I know you care about me. And I know you thought that we had something special-"

"We do have something special."

"But, I can't leave with you. You're dangerous Luther, possibly to my health and your own-"

Luther chuckled. "...Health."

"And, if we-" Kurama stopped and glared at Luther. _Health. Does Luther know something about my illness? _Kurama sharpened his gaze and moved closer to Luther despite the whip which was still binding them. "What do you know about health?"

Luther smirked, completely disregarding his question, and pulled the whip again, this time getting Kurama just close enough to touch if his arms were twice as long. Kurama tried his hardest to stay still and stay as far away from the psychotic demon as possible but that feat was getting harder now that Luther was angry.

"This is an funny situation isn't it Kurama?" Luther's once angry face was now twisted in humor. He repositioned his sword swiftly, sticking it out so that the tip was facing the direction of the fox demon. The whip seemed to twist even tighter onto the sword, forcing Kurama forward even more.

Kurama stared at the tip of the sword, which was gleaming with the stain of unwashed blood; he could feel his own blood pumping into his ear, his body warning him to run. What could he do? He wanted to retract his whip but that left him completely open to attack. No, he was going to wait it out.

"I know why you won't leave with me today..." Luther said. To Kurama's surprise, he was not angry or amused anymore. His eyes were downcast and his lips were in between his teeth.

Kurama could no longer follow all of these strange mood swings. "Why?"

"It's because of Hiei isn't it? Your little boyfriend Hiei?" Luther muttered.

Kurama didn't answer.

Luther started laughing again, only this time it was low and sad like a tiny violin. "I knew it. You won't leave him, that short bastard, you'll never leave him!"

"Luther, let go of my whip."

"I hate him so much, he took you away from me and he won't let you come back. You have to come back to me, but he won't let you come back, he'll never let you come back. But, you have to-" Luther's voice broke. He looked shocked and stood completely still.

Kurama thought that it might be a good time to get away, but then he noticed that Luther's eyes were on him again and the anger was back. Kurama inhaled and shook his head. "You're not thinking clearly."

Luther pulled on the whip again, a maniacal look shining in his bright eyes; he gave the rope a slight tug and then another and another. Kurama, who was mostly defenseless to this at the risk of accidentally hurting himself, was strung along with him, until he was mere inches away from Luther's sword, which was still sticking out looking as prominent as ever.

"I saw the two of you, every night that _he_ was here, I followed you two into those woods and I watched him take you; I had to watch you enjoy it, I had to watch you beg for it. Do you have any idea how disgusting that is?"

Kurama would've gagged if he had not been otherwise occupied. Those had been private moments between his lover and him, so private that they dragged themselves all the way into an isolated wood. But, Luther had been there and he had seen it all as if it was some viral Internet craze that he found disgusting but just had to see.

"I need you. If you leave I will not hesitate to hurt you-" Luther tugged on the whip, causing Kurama's stomach to dig into the sword. "If I have to Kurama, I'll kill you!"

Luther pulled at the whip one last time and the tip of the sword dug into Kurama's lower stomach. Kurama could not suppress a short gasp and a shaky sigh. Hiei had definitely warned him about this. "Are you- Are you going to kill me-" He released a short exhale. "-now?"

"No, I won't stab you to death. Surprise! I'm already killing you."

Kurama's eyes widened. _"He's already killing you, Kurama," _Pace had said that!

Kurama fought hard against the sword but Luther was adamant about this; he was going to get his way one way or the other. Kurama decided that there was nothing more he could do, if he wanted answers he could not be this close. Kurama retracted his whip, freeing himself from Luther and his sword; he pulled his body from the sword, suppressing a pained scream at the terrible in folding of his inside skin. He staggered back a couple of yards and held onto his bleeding stomach.

"What do you mean already killing me?"

Luther laughed haughtily and placed his sword back in its rightful place. "You haven't noticed, yet? My dosage must not have been strong enough..."

"What are you talking about!"

"You know, headaches, chills, stomach cramps, vomiting. All of that fun stuff."

He was a little reluctant to tell Luther about what he had been going through, but obviously he was the cause of it and it was, well it was killing him. "Yes, I have all of that. Tell me what you did!"

Luther grinned and pulled out a small vial of blue liquid. And everything came to back to him, Luther dangling that same vial in his face, Luther pulling it down his throat, Luther smiling at him when it felt like all of his insides were on fire. Luther had poisoned him.

"How long do I have?"

"You get right to the point, don't you?" Luther asked. "Maybe a couple more months, two maybe three if you're lucky."

Kurama gulped and nodded.

"I love this little potion, almost as much as I treasure my beloved box, and of course, you! This ugly little liquid is going to eat you away from the insides Kurama, it will be long, slow and painful. You see, over the next month or so you'll begin to get weaker, your muscles will start to ache and headaches will get worst, your stomach might even twist a little out of order. It'll be hilarious, you'll likely enjoy it. The month after that you'll be bedridden, no more moving of the long legs and very soon after that no more of that mouth of yours. Soon, you won't even be able to feed yourself. You'll become a shell of the man you used to be. But, your last days beat all of that. You'll have to lay there and feel your blood deteriorating into nothing, endure your organs shutting down one by one. Until finally your lungs will collapse. You'll hang on for a while though, you'll be finished off with a neat little seizure." Luther chuckled incredulously when he finished his explanation. "Won't it be fun Kurama?"

When Kurama didn't answer, Luther returned his vial to his pocket and backed away a little from Kurama, giving him a short wave. "Well, I must be going. There's so much to tend to-"

"Is there a cure?"

"Well of course."

"Where is it?"

"I have it... I could just give it to you right now, but you'll have to come with me first and pledge your eternal allegiance to me and my cause." He said this so matter-of-factly that it almost scared Kurama.

Kurama was speechless.

"Ciao."

And Luther was gone.


	19. Chapter 18

Youkai Orpheus

**Chapter 18**

* * *

Kurama wiped a bit of sweat off of his brow as he pulled yet another bunch of herbs out of Yomi's garden. It's been exactly one week since he spoke with Luther and though he did not fully believe him at first, after only seventy-two hours of going through everyday life he knew Luther spoke the truth, he knew Luther poisoned him.

He would never forget being so tired two days after their meeting that he went to bed hours before dinner and woke up the next day at noon to his mother's screaming voice, telling him that he missed most of his classes. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life; his whole family was so worried about his health that they scheduled a doctor's appointment.

That's where Kurama was supposed to be but instead he went to Makai knowing that their healers would be much better suited to help him through this one.

He asked Yomi if he could find a healer for him and in no time the man did just that and allowed Kurama full reign over his garden just in case he wanted to make any natural remedies for himself.

"Do you need any assistance?" Yomi asked from his seat on the terrace.

Kurama sent Yomi a look and then rolled his eyes as he bent over to pick another plant. He'd asked Yomi to send him some help hours ago but the man claimed that he was very busy with a book he'd received from an old friend of his.

"I do, do you have someone?"

"I'm always willing to assist you."

Yomi rested his book on the small table in front of him and after pushing his chair back, called for someone to help Kurama in the fields. As the servant passed him he whispered something in his ear and then sent him on his way. He began picking through the bushels of the garden thoughtlessly; Kurama turned to him, frowning at his seemingly random assortment of herbs but decided that he could pick through them later for the useful ones.

They gathered herbs for about fifteen minutes more and when Kurama was happy with his bundle he went to join Yomi on his small table.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes- Yomi running his fingers over the bumps in the book and Kurama going through the servant's herbs - before Kurama spoke with an uneasy tone, "So, have you heard anything?"

Yomi shook his head. "Not a thing, they hide themselves very well. Almost as well as we used to."

Kurama chuckled as fond memories flickered through his mind. "That's true; its strange, with so many different people looking for them you would think at least one of them would be incarcerated by now."

Yomi apparently heard something in his voice because he sat his book down on the table, forgotten, and leaned it. "Don't worry Kurama, it's only a matter of time."

Kurama folded his hands into a fist and put them on the table. "I'm not worried Yomi."

"Do you have the whole situation under control?" Yomi asked mockingly.

Kurama gave him a stern look and even though he could not see it, Kurama was sure the man felt it because he flinched away and smiled sheepishly.

"Either way, I have so much to do."

Yomi nodded. "You do, after all of these years of escaping death it would be a shame to see you taken down by poison."

Kurama chuckled. "Yes, I was just thinking the same thing."

Yomi leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily; obviously contemplating what he could do for his friend. Kurama smiled at the realization and continued to sort through the herbs, in his head formulating mixes that could help with his symptoms.

"I would like to thank you," Kurama said after a long moment of silence.

Yomi looked up and smiled. "For what? All I've done is allow you to pick through my overripe garden," Yomi said. "It was about time someone put it to use anyways."

"You did assist me with a visit to a healer," Kurama said.

"Not that it helped much," Yomi said as he started to tap the table steadily.

Kurama squinted when he saw the way that Yomi pursed his lips. "It did confirm Luther's story."

"It won't get that poison out of you," Yomi said tersely.

Kurama shrugged. "These might." Kurama held up his groups of herbs. He knew Yomi could not see it, but it did make him feel better to pretend.

Yomi shook his head as he continued to tap on the table with his pointer and middle fingers. "My herbs are not so powerful… you say this demon knew of you,"

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "Yes…"

"Then he would have known not to make a poison that could be healed simply by mixing a group of plants together – something that we all knew you can do very well."

Kurama exhaled but nodded, he knew Yomi was correct – but it didn't make the dashing of his hopes any less painful. "You're right," He said.

"So," Yomi began. "It seems you're not in as much control as you thought."

Kurama's expression dropped into a frown and his eyes found the herbs on the table. Yomi definitely had this way of bringing Kurama down; he was similar to Hiei in that respect. He didn't answer.

Yomi continued to tap the table and purse his lips, apparently in deep thought about something or another. Kurama hadn't meant to drag Yomi into all of his problems. But, he did have a lot of connections, a lot of money and was more likely to have heard something about the Wolf Tribe's general location then anyone else he knows.

"Where was it?" Yomi asked suddenly.

Kurama's eyes snapped up to Yomi and his head cocked to the side. "Excuse me?"

"The Wolf Tribe - all these years they've been in the shadows, it's impossible to me that they hadn't gained some kind of notoriety until now– where were they for all of these centuries?"

Kurama thought it over; it was a valid question, Luther had alluded to being even older than Kurama was on many occasions during their dates. The Wolf Tribe is apparently one of the strongest groups of dirty demons since Kurama's own brigade. It was impossible that they were never mainstream until then – or maybe they never were in the first place.

"I don't mean to sound cocky, but we worked with just about every demon band that could help us in our schemes. And even the ones who we never used were still in communication with us. How is it possible that we didn't hear their names in passing at least once."

Kurama tapped his chin and nodded. "Does it really matter Yomi?"

Yomi nodded. "Of course it matters; if we knew more of their history then we'd know why your little boyfriend is so crazy and perhaps that may link us to the cure."

Kurama shook his head. "I doubt it, you're just curious…" Kurama leaned over the table and smiled at his friend. "How about you do some digging of your own – you'll stifle your curiosity and you may find some useful information."

"Fair enough," Yomi said with a shrug. "I think I'll get right on that – if only to prevent your death, my love."

Kurama forced a smile and ducked his head slowly back to herbs preferring to pay attention to those relative to Yomi's last comment. Yomi seemed to notice because he smirked and leaned back casually.

"Do you remember the time we came across that party in the Ahisias region?"

Chuckling, Kurama nodded and looked up from his herbs. "The one that Akayashi hosted? Or are you speaking about King Frawztok's?"

"Ayakashi."

"Ah," Kurama leaned back slightly in his seat and felt himself relaxing. A small smile formed on his face and he said, "How could I ever forget that?"

"It was the first time I ever saw you dance –"

"And the last time if your eyes have anything to say about it."

"It was –"

"Hilarious."

"Sensual."

Kurama's eyes fell back to his herbs immediately; he didn't have much left to do with them at that point but he would rather keep himself distracted from the dangerous territory that Yomi was bringing this conversation in.

"I can remember vividly the way your hips swayed back and forth and the way your silver hair moved over your bare chest. You were so red afterwards – I didn't think someone so pale could get that red."

Kurama chuckled. "It's not like I was embarrassed or anything – I was just _very _angry."

"Ah yes, I thought you were going to kill me after we left that night – luckily you killed Ayakashi instead."

"Do you remember those clothes you had me wear?"

Yomi laughed and nodded. "Of course I do; the white cloths around your hips and the gold mask over your face reminded me of sin."

"I'd never been so angry in my life," Kurama said with a short chuckle.

"Perhaps you could do that for me again sometime."

"No, as if I would ever put myself through something like that again. Besides, you wouldn't even be able to see it. It would be a waste of both of our times."

"I don't need to see to experience you dancing, I could listen to the rustle of the wind whenever you moved and smell your pleasant scent..."

Somewhere during his speech, Yomi reached across the table and rested his hand on top of Kurama's. Kurama looked down at the hand nervously, regretting that he and Yomi would have to have _that _conversation so soon. He had effectively refrained from mentioning his relationship with Hiei to anyone outside of their little circle; he knew that he and Yomi had a history – most of it bad – but there was some good that they could probably find again if they had made _that_ decision. But, Kurama was happy with Hiei, regardless of how little he saw of him, so he could not humor Yomi any longer.

"Yomi…" Kurama started warily.

"Perhaps – Kurama how about you stay here until your charming wolf is found again? I have the best medical team here at your disposal and you can spend your days in the gardens, amongst your plant friends and get well the natural way."

Kurama smiled softly – it was truly a pleasant thought. Yomi had planted the garden specifically so that Kurama would have something to do when he visited and spending days endlessly in the middle of nature was an attractive concept. But, Kurama knew it was impossible. He moved his hand around so that he and Yomi's palms touched and he squeezed his hand tightly.

"I can't."

Squeezing his hand back, Yomi replied, "Why not?"

"My family back at home would miss me so much and then I have school…" He trailed off and cleared his throat. "And I don't think Hiei would be too happy if I came here to live with you."

Yomi made an affirmative noise in his throat. "So you and Hiei, huh?"

"Yes," He said simply.

"How long?"

"Not very long," Kurama said. "But this… this is very serious, at least to me, so-" Kurama cut himself off and moved his hand out of Yomi's. "Maybe I'll come back for a visit soon."

Yomi pulled his hand back towards himself. "Of course, come back anytime. You're always welcome and I'll always be waiting."

Kurama smiled softly; suddenly feeling more relaxed than he had since Luther told him that terrible news. "Well, if I do die in this debacle then I'll have Hiei send you my body and I give you complete permission to do whatever you want with it – lecherous or otherwise."

Yomi laughed humorlessly. "Well thank you; but I doubt _the_ Youko Kurama is going to get taken out by a pack of pathetic wolves. It'll take at least one thousand soldiers and the betrayal of a friend to take you down."

Laughing, Kurama said, "I believe I've said that to you before, too many years ago to count."

"One thousand and twenty two."

Looking down at the herbs, Kurama studied them carefully and shrugged. "Who knew?"

There was a long bout of silence; both pondering, reminiscing and planning before Yomi decided to speak. "Well, if your lover does send you here I am going to give you a funeral fit for royalty, you'll be buried with all of the treasures you've procured and all of Makai will come to see you off to the next world."

"And for that I will owe you for many more lifetimes than I already do, my friend."

Yomi stood from where he sat and smiled at Kurama. "Well, you better be off if you plan to visit your lover before you have to be back home."

Standing up, Kurama packed the herbs into his sack. When he was finished he approached Yomi slowly not really knowing what to say to express his gratitude towards his dearest friend. He placed his hand on Yomi's shoulder and lifted himself just high enough to give him a quick peck on the bottom lip. He rubbed his hand over his shoulder and smiled.

"Thank you very much."

* * *

Kurama allowed himself to be led to Hiei's room. As soon as he arrived at Alaric guards and servants bombarded him. He found out later that it was Hiei's doing. Kurama could not help but smile when he thought of Hiei being that determined to catch Luther and his group. As soon as he told them that his name was Kurama and he was looking for Hiei all of the help seemed to get unexpectedly excited and they enthusiastically started to lead him to Hiei's bedroom.

The whole situation was reminiscent of a Ningen story that he read once where there was an Old King who was so wound up that he broke the arms of all of his servants and yelled at his entire family without fail. All methods of calming him down were in vain until a girl from the village came to the castle - much to the general excitement of everyone employed there- and decided to seduce him, effectively calming the King and pleasing him beyond measure. Kurama would not mind pleasing Hiei beyond measure today, especially after almost two months of not seeing him or _feeling _him.

When they arrived to Hiei's room, the servants and guards who followed him started to pour out quickly with only one of them turning around and addressing Kurama.

"We will alert Hiei of your presence; he's probably at the borders right now, it shouldn't take him too long to get here."

"No," Kurama exclaimed. "Please don't, I wanted to surprise him. If you could simply tell him that he has a very important proposal waiting for him in his room, I would be very thankful."

The girl simpered and bowed her head. "Yes sir."

When the room was empty, Kurama sat his sack of herbs onto a chair and started towards the bed. It looked positively inviting with its red blankets and white sheets and room to fit at least four full-grown bodies. Moving closer, Kurama placed his hand on the blanket and moaned in appreciation of its softness.

"This will do," he mumbled to himself contentedly.

Kurama sat down on the bed and sighed, it was his first moment of relief since he rose that morning and the bed was just so soft; he almost felt tired. He understood that that was likely because of the sickness but that didn't stop his eyes from drooping and his hands from moving backwards until they were splayed above his head and his head rested on top of the blanket.

He repositioned himself once again so that the side of his face rested on Hiei's pillow – which smelled of him so sharply that Kurama unconsciously snuggled closer and smiled – and curled his legs up underneath him.

Yawning, Kurama fought for a couple more seconds to stay awake but his fatigue won over and he was off.

* * *

Kurama awoke to the gentle press of dry, warm lips against his own; instinctively his hand rose to rest in the spiky locks of Hiei and he was pressing back enthusiastically. He opened his eyes slowly and would have smiled - if not for Hiei's lips - when he finally saw his lover again for the first time in months; he'd missed him so terribly. They continued on that way for a while before Hiei pulled away with a contented noise.

"When they told me I had a proposal waiting for me I didn't think it would be this much fun," Hiei said.

Kurama sat up in the bed and smiled. "Hiei, I'm afraid I've missed you so much that even your dry sense of humor is a pleasure to the ear."

Hiei chuckled. "I'm afraid I missed you too."

Beaming, Kurama pulled Hiei back down for a kiss. Hiei kissed him back enthusiastically before pulling away a second time and placing his hand on Kurama's stomach.

"What are you doing here?" He asked after a few minutes of rubbing Kurama's stomach.

"I'm not allowed to come see you after almost two sexless months?"

Smirking, Hiei chuckled. "Has it really been so long?"

"You're usually more insatiable then me, how have you not noticed?"

"Been busy."

Kurama's eyebrows wrinkled and he wrapped his arms around Hiei's neck. "Do you need some leisure time, my love?"

Hiei groaned low in his throat and his lips were planted on Kurama's within seconds; he climbed on top of his bed and straddled Kurama's legs. He grabbed at Kurama's wrists and pushed his hands above his head, holding them there steadily and moving in for a kiss once again. But, he then stopped.

Kurama gazed up at Hiei, confused. He lifted his pelvis to try and get him to respond again but Hiei's concentration seemed to be elsewhere. After a couple more seconds of simply sitting there Hiei took his hands off of Kurama's wrist and got off of him, lying on his side next to him on the bed.

"What's wrong?" Kurama asked.

Hiei eyed him warily. "Why are you so thin?"

Kurama opened his mouth to reply but he could barely form words; he knew he was sick but he didn't notice himself getting any thinner in the past couple of months, but he had not exactly weighed himself and he generally avoided mirrors. Was he really much thinner?

"I didn't really notice," Kurama said, forcing as much nonchalance as possible into his speech.

Hiei eyed him suspiciously and Kurama tried to smile but he knew it looked strained.

"I'll explain it later," Kurama guaranteed him.

Hiei continued to stare at him for a while before nodding. But, he made no move to continue what they'd been getting into, so Kurama moved closer and started to kiss his jaw and neck, eliciting nothing more than a short gasp from Hiei. When he realized he was not getting a response, Kurama pulled away and pouted.

"What is it?"

Hiei raised his nose in the air and huffed. "You _did_ come here for a reason other than seeing me," he commented rather than questioned, almost accusingly.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Kurama sat up in the bed and stared down at Hiei. "I did," he said with a short nod. "But, the only reason I was the least bit excited about this trip was because I knew I would be able to spend time with you."

Though, he looked affected by what Kurama said, Hiei still sat up in his bed and frowned. "If it's so important that you're losing weight over it, I would like to know."

Kurama cocked his head to the side and gave Hiei a long look. "Can we please do this later?"

Hiei's eyes flashed and his nostrils flared momentarily. "This has something to do with that wolf, doesn't it?"

"Well…" Kurama started. As much as he really did want to start discussing this, he knew it would only put a damper on the rest of the visit and if the next couple of months went as Luther planned then Kurama did not want to waste a second discussing him. He lay back down on his back and brought his hand up to rest on the side of Hiei's neck. "Hiei, can we just forget it for a while? Please?"

After a while of staring at him, Hiei sighed and leaned down to take Kurama's lips again. He grunted, "later" once before his hand snaked under Kurama's shirt.

* * *

Sometime later, Kurama and Hiei lay side-by-side, sated and oblivious to the problems around them. Hiei had fallen asleep very quickly after they'd finished up, while Kurama surprisingly didn't let his fatigue overtake him and laid awake as he watched the gentle rise and fall on his lover's chest. Running his finger over Hiei's sweat-soaked chest, Kurama sighed.

It was just his luck – and probably his just deserts – to finally get someone like Hiei to love him and die of poisoning all in the same year. Just the thought of leaving him behind was sickening.

Hiei needed him.

It was likely that if Kurama did die in this situation then Hiei would mourn him for the rest of his days but he would still find someone else to love eventually. Kurama could do nothing to stop the unexpected flare of jealousy that arose from that thought.

He would have to fight this poison if not for his own life then for Hiei's; he refused to give the other man a reason to fall in love again. He felt like he was a perfectly adequate life partner, capable of making Hiei happy for his entire time in Makai and Ningenkai and, if their lucky, even in the spirit world. He would not let this thing take him down.

"Fox," Hiei murmured.

Kurama blushed when he realized Hiei had been awake to witness him staring off into space before smiling shyly and spreading his hand out on Hiei's chest. "Did you rest well?"

"Like a babe," Hiei replied with an exaggerated yawn. "Haven't slept like that in weeks. Your presence was… much needed."

Blushing, Kurama smiled and moved his face closer to Hiei's. "Have you been very busy lately?"

Hiei nodded. "Mukuro is making me pay for all of the time off; it wouldn't be so bad if she didn't make me spar with her every morning too. I feel like I haven't had a good nights sleep in weeks and there's still so much work to do."

Kurama's smile fell and a deep frown marred his features. "I'm really sorry."

"'Not your fault."

Except it was. At least the last time it had been; if they had not been so excited to start their relationship off with a lot of sex, Hiei would have gotten some work done and they could have had more time together as a result. Kurama traced his finger all over Hiei's chest and neck as he responded,

"You shouldn't have to be this busy; you've never had to work this much before, huh?"

Hiei shook his head; he raised his hand slowly to rest on Kurama's and press it harder onto his chest. "No, there's too much to do. I don't think I can handle anymore, if that harpy gives me anything else to do I'll fall into my own sword."

Kurama scowled briefly and pursed his lips. What was the chance that Hiei would fall on his sword if Kurama added onto that load? An idea, albeit a bad and possibly destructive one, started to form in Kurama's head and he pressed up against Hiei tighter.

They sat in silence for a while before Hiei remembered the previous topic of discussion.

"So, about earlier…"

Perking up, Kurama smiled and leaned over to look into Hiei's face. "Oh yes, why I'm here," Kurama started. "Well, Luther… he… he has resurfaced."

Hiei jolted up; a threatening look in his eyes and his hands already reaching over to where his clothes – and his katana – lay. Kurama grabbed Hiei's arm and pulled him back down; Hiei didn't leave the bed but he didn't lay back either.

"Where is he? And why was I not told?"

"Hiei, calm down. I found out less than a week ago," Kurama said. When Hiei's eyes widened in agitation, Kurama added, "and I only just found the time to get here."

Not seeming to accept that answer completely but still wanting to move on to the bigger picture, Hiei nodded and glaring at Kurama. "And where is he?" Hiei asked through clenched teeth.

"He's still in Ningenkai," Kurama murmured. "In Japan, last he was seen."

Hiei looked about ready to burst at the new information, so Kurama tried his hardest to sooth him by running his hand along Hiei's bare arm. "I'm going back with you."

"No," Kurama asserted. This was exactly what he was trying to prevent; Hiei was much too busy to bother with these trifles. He could handle this on his own and it wasn't like he didn't have help. "Don't bother Hiei. There's nothing more you could do then what is being done already."

Hiei scowled. "Oh is that so?" He asked defensively.

Kurama could feel him tensing up underneath his touch, so he decided to go another route. "Koenma has people skewering everywhere for this man, the most you could do is aid in their search and that could take months… it's not like its your _job, _after all."

A lot of Hiei's resistance seemed to ebb away with that statement and his scowl only got deeper. It was one of Kurama's base forms of manipulation, make someone realize why something needs or does not need to be done themselves; never say it to them – just hint.

"So, Koenma has people around, right? You'll be safe, right?" He asked with tension in his voice.

Kurama frowned, unhappy with himself already for making Hiei so upset; he knew his lover wanted to be there with him but it was impossible in their present circumstances. "Yes, nothing will happen on their watch."

Hiei nodded and looked away from Kurama with a certain fire in his eyes. "I want to kill him."

"And you will, maybe. I doubt Koenma will want him dead before bringing him in for questioning so you can always ask him if you could do the honors once he's finished," Kurama said playfully.

Turning back to him, Hiei smiled. "I think I might do that."

Kurama chuckled happily and lay down on his back. Crisis averted – Hiei would go back to work happily without a worry in the world and Kurama could focus on his own crisis with this poison on his own.

"Wait..." Hiei said. Kurama looked at him, confused, and sat back up in the bed on his elbows.

"What?"

"None of that explains why you look so bad."

Kurama's eyes widened and he glowered. "Well, you weren't exactly complaining earlier."

Hiei didn't even bother to try to hide his annoyance. "You know I don't mean it like that. Be serious!" Hiei snapped.

Kurama stared at Hiei for a while. He was going to have to choose his words carefully if he wanted Hiei to stay calm. Sitting up in the bed Kurama crossed his arms. "When Luther kidnapped me and took me to that cabin he knocked me unconscious using some kind of potion. It turns out it was poison and it chipped away at me very badly; but, I'm getting better."

"And," Hiei started slowly after a while of just staring into space. "It only just occurred to you to say something."

Sighing, Kurama shook his head. "No, Hiei. I didn't remember he'd given me anything during my time in that cabin. But, when he mentioned it when we met up last week it all came back to me."

"You met up with him!" Hiei asked him, his eyes burning. He started to leave the bed again.

"It's okay Hiei," Kurama assured him. "I was safe."

When Hiei was out of his bed he started to furiously tug on his pants, grumbling all the way. "You idiot fox. Anything could have happened."

When his pants were on, Hiei turned around and glared at Kurama. "You understand he has a dangerous weapon that he _can_ use … on you!"

Feeling reprimanded, Kurama looked down. "Yes, I know."

"And of course you understand that you have poison in your system, something that can weaken your abilities exponentially."

Kurama rolled his eyes. "Yes, Hiei, I do. But, that man threatened my family, what did you expect me to do, just take it."

"Yes!" Hiei snapped. "You take it until you get the help of some of those barely competent friends we have in Ningenkai."

"Well, it's a good thing I spoke to him at all. If I hadn't I wouldn't have known about the poison and I would still be sitting at home thinking it was the flu."

Hiei calmed slightly at the mention of the poison and exhaled slowly, apparently to relax his nerves. "We need to get you to a healer."

Kurama shook his head. "No, it's fine. I've already been to a healer today."

"What did they say?" Hiei asked as he walked closer to the bed.

Kurama opted out of looking at Hiei; knowing instinctively that he could barely lie right to his face, manipulation to one's face was one thing – it was necessary – but never lies, not to Hiei. "Everything should be fine, I'll drain it out of my system with my herbs."

Kurama's heard Hiei's sigh of relief and felt a well of emotion fill his stomach. Even in the middle of a fight, Hiei managed to make him feel so wanted and special. He turned back around to look at his lover and tried to smile at him. "I love you, Hiei."

Whatever anger was left in Hiei's stature seemed to fade, but he still sneered and turned away from Kurama. "Of course you do, no one else would put up with you."

"I apologize if I did anything to upset you Hiei; but everything's fine now," He said, knowing that everything was not fine. There was still so much to worry about, but Kurama would not put any of that on Hiei. He was much too involved already and he had so much to do.

If Kurama even suggested that this poison was not going to drain out of his system or that Luther was giving him an ultimatum about said poison then Kurama was sure that Hiei would be in Ningenkai instantly, passing his job off as unimportant. But, Kurama could barely fault him for that – Hiei loved him and he had a personal vendetta against Luther. Still, Kurama would hate himself forever – probably not forever, but for at least a month - if Hiei had to work even harder because he had to take time off for him.

And perhaps Kurama was being a bit selfish as well. If Hiei was working overtime then it would mean even less time together than they already had. And despite Kurama's general faith in his own healing abilities, he didn't want what could possibly be his last few months alive with Hiei weighed down by worry and angst. He'd much rather him the way he was – when he was simply Hiei. Lying was necessary. When everything was sorted out he would be relieved that he decided not to tell Hiei. He just knew it.

Later when Kurama left Hiei's room on his way back home, he could do no more than offer Hiei a weak smile and a half-hearted wave goodbye. It was for the best, but Kurama could not help but feel like scum.

* * *

I really apologize, like sincerely... this is so bad. I don't know if anyone even still cares about this story but for those who do, I plan to finish this by the end of the Summer.

Thanks!


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